KABUL: The Afghan Taliban on Wednesday praised the “spirit of cooperation” towards Afghanistan in the UN-led ‘Doha III’ talks, as a spokesperson announced a prisoner swap with Washington.

Following the conclusion of the two-day meetings of international envoys in the Qatari capital, the first to be attended by representatives of the current regime, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a news conference in Kabul that Western officials “had a good spirit of cooperation vis-a-vis Afghanistan and we could see that their policies for Afghanistan have positively changed”.

“Afghanistan has come out of isolation” and “an atmosphere of trust has been created”, he added.

“As this meeting was organised as per Afghanistan’s demands and in consideration of our national interests, we were able to participate and to inform the world of our position,” Mujahid said.

Spokesperson says Afghanistan has come out of isolation; talks underway for prisoner swap with US

“We told the countries that Afghanistan’s internal issues — issues related to its people and women — are Afghanistan’s issues,” Mujahid said.

“It should not be used for countries to apply political pressure.”

Rights groups have strongly criticised the UN decision to exclude civil society groups from the main meetings, in a compromise made to encourage the Taliban government’s participation.

But the European Union’s special envoy to Afghanistan, Tomas Niklasson, said making concessions to Taliban authorities allowed for “good discussion” with all parties in Doha.

“To have the opportunity to talk with the Taliban, and they came, and to talk with these individuals, civil society, private sector, and they came... I think this was worth it”, he told AFP on Tuesday.

Prisoner swap

At a press conference in Kabul on Wednesday, Zabihullah Mujahid said the possibility of a prisoner swap — two Americans held in Afghanistan in exchange for Afghans held in Guantanamo Bay — had been discussed with the United States.

While he did not name the US prisoners, but an American woman was among more than a dozen staff of an international NGO arrested by Taliban authorities last September, and aid worker Ryan Corbett has been custody in since 2022.

“We should be able to free our citizens in (an) exchange, as American citizens are important for them (the United States), just as Afghans are important for us,” Mujahid said.

He said discussions over a prisoner exchange were held with US representatives during the talks in Qatar.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2024