WASHINGTON: The United States said on Saturday that it had maintained “close contact” with Qatar over the Taliban as Qatari officials confirmed that Afghan and Taliban officials would hold two days of reconciliation talks in the Gulf state.

“We remain in close contact, as we would in any circumstance where we transfer detainees,” said a US State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke while explaining that the talks were about five Taliban prisoners released from the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Last year, the United States traded five Taliban leaders for US Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who was in Taliban custody in Afghanistan.

The former Guantanamo inmates were handed over to Qatar under an agreement, which requires the Qatari government to supervise them.

The agreement, which also ensures that all five stay in Qatar, ends this month. Washington fears that this may allow the five militant leaders to return to Afghanistan and join those fighting the Afghan government.

Mr Rathke, however, refused to details of these talks, saying that these were “diplomatic discussions with Qatari authorities with respect to these particular individuals.”

The official explained that whenever it released prisoners from Guantanamo, it took measures to prevent them from going back to the battlefield.

“We take steps to mitigate the risks of recidivism. And I think if you look at the record of recidivism among detainees who have been transferred over the last few years under this administration, it has been substantially lowered,” Mr Rathke said.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2015

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