Kabul: Pakistan has released nine more Taliban fighters from its jails after an agreement with Afghan officials over the release of the movement prisoners in order to go ahead with the negotiations.
According to sources in Kabul, nine middle-ranking Taliban commanders were released in a new move, making a total of 18 such prisoners let out of Pakistani jails since last month.
Afghan and western officials said most of the Taliban prisoners had been arrested because they had shown interest in making peace, without the permission of the Pakistani military, which has long seen its backing for the insurgents as a strategic bargaining chip.
The prisoner releases come after a flurry of bilateral meetings and a significant warming in the Afghan-Pakistan relationship, which is almost universally seen as critical to hopes of peaceful settlement in the 11-year Afghan conflict.
Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai and his Pakistani counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari, met in Ankara on Wednesday. The outcome of the meeting has not been revealed other than an agreement to conduct a joint investigation into an assassination attempt last week against Asadullah Khalid, the head of Afghan intelligence.
A hotline has also been established between the leaders of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey. The Ankara summit followed a meeting of security officials in London on 5 December, and a visit to Pakistan by Afghanistan’s high peace council last month.
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