MONITORING (SW) — The Taliban’s chief has finalized a negotiating team that is to have sweeping decision-making powers in upcoming intra-Afghan negotiations, the top Taliban negotiator told The Associated Press on Sunday.
According to the report, Maulvi Hibatullah Akhunzada hand-picked the 20-member team, 13 of whom come from the Taliban’s leadership council — around half of the council’s total members. The negotiating team will have the authority to set agendas, decide strategy and even sign agreements with the political leadership of the Afghan government in Kabul, lead Taliban negotiator Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai told AP.
“This is a powerful team … All decision-making powers are with the negotiation team,” Stanikzai said. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who signed the peace deal with Washington on Feb. 29 paving the way for America’s troop withdrawal and the eventual intra-Afghan negotiations, will keep the powerful post as head of the Taliban’s political office in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar.
The critical intra-Afghan talks, which were laid out in the peace deal signed in February, were expected to begin Aug. 20 but have been plagued by relentless delays, it added.
The talks are intended to set a road map for post-war Afghanistan. They will include a permanent cease-fire, the rights of minorities and women, constitutional changes and the fate of tens of thousands of armed Taliban and militias loyal to Kabul-allied warlords.
The first round of talks seemed imminent earlier this month, when a traditional grand council or jirga approved the immediate release of the remaining Taliban prisoners in government custody. Some diplomats optimistically told the AP that negotiations could begin as early as Aug. 10. But the government then defied the jirga decision, demanding the Taliban free 22 commandos in their custody before freeing the remaining Taliban.
“We will be ready for negotiations in the near future,” Stanikzai, the lead Taliban negotiator, said. “Now we urge the U.S. to convince the other side to end their excuses, release prisoners as soon as possible and come to the negotiation table.”
Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban’s political office, said last week that the Taliban had freed the 1,000 prisoners they had promised, and that he was not aware of the commandos.
According to the deal Washington signed with the Taliban, the Afghan government was to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners, and the Taliban were to free 1,000 government and military men.
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