Taliban and US Talks To Release Prisoners Unsuccessful

By: Cory Perrin
01/30/2012 08:38 AM ET

The US and Taliban talks on releasing militant group prisoners has been unsuccessful.

The US State Department confirmed that last week Marc Grossman, the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, had talksmeetings related to Afghanistan when he visited Qatar.

According to former officials in Taliban, both sides meet in Qatar where they are working on preliminary trust-building measures.

Up to eight representatives have traveled from Pakistan to in order to make a political office for the exiled Afghan insurgent group.

The measures could include a possible prisoner exchange, apparently the US is willing to release five Taliban prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in exchange for the release of Bowe Bergdahl, an American soldier who was captured in 2009 by Taliban militants in Afghanistan’s Paktika province, which borders Pakistan’s South Waziristan.

Reportedly, these talks have been unsuccessful, mainly due to the Taliban’s unwillingness to accept the US demand of a ceasefire prior to the five Taliban prisoners being let go. It seems as though the Taliban was at least getting ready for preliminary discussions.

According to Victoria Nuland, a State Department spokesperson, “He did have a number of meetings in Qatar focused on national reconciliation issues,” a State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, said at a briefing in Washington on Thursday. “I’m not going to get into the blow-by-blow either with regard to that stop or with regard to future meetings that he might have, except to say that we are intently focused on working these issues closely with the Afghan government.”

Source: Taliban Talks