Afghanistan re-arresting freed Taliban

KABUL: The Taliban accused Afghan security forces Sunday of re-arresting insurgents who had been released as part of a crucial prisoner swap meant to kick-start peace talks. They said the National Directorate of Security (NDS) had detained an unspecified number of insurgents released under the exchange programme, warning Kabul would “bear responsibility for the consequences”.“They are incessantly raided, detained and put behind the bar by NDS of the Kabul (administration),” Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen said on Twitter. Javid Faisal, the spokesman for Afghanistan´s National Security Council, said the claim was “incorrect”. “It´s their way of sabotaging the peace efforts and the peace talks that should start,” he told AFP.

The prisoner swap has been a major stumbling block in getting Kabul and the Taliban to start peace talks.

Under a deal between the US and the Taliban, the Afghan government is supposed to release 5,000 insurgent prisoners while the Taliban free 1,000 government inmates.