Afghanistan to Release Taliban Commanders in Exchange of American and Australian Captives

Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani announced in a live broadcast through television on Tuesday that they will release two senior Taliban commanders and a leader of the Haqqani militant group in exchange of the release of American and Australian professors.

The Taliban-linked Haqqani network are Annas Haqqani, Haji Mali Khan, and Hafiz Rashid who were captured in 2014 while the two professors who were both abducted in 2016 are the American Professor Kevin King and Australian Professor Timothy Weekes.

In a report from Fox News, the two professors were both abducted at a gunpoint outside the American University in Kabul where they worked as teachers. Meanwhile, the three insurgents are still under the custody of the Afghanistan government and were held at the Bagram prison, this is also an airbase where it houses U.S. troops just outside Kabul. Moreover, Ghani did not elaborate details as to when and where the exchange of prisoners will be.

Ghani also said in the live telecast that the release of three insurgents in exhange of the two captives is a demonstration of respect for humanity by the government and Afghanistan. He also gave an assurance to the families of the captives and those who plan to come in Afghanistan to pursue education their safety.

The release of the two professors is part of the Afghan's main demands during the indirect negotiations with the Taliban to facilitate direct peace negotiations in exchange of the three prisoners.

It can be recalled that the Taliban have long demanded the release of Annas Haqqani, the younger brother of Sirrajuddin, the deputy head of the Taliban and leader of the Haqqani network which is often considered as the strongest Taliban factions fighting the Afghanistan government. It was in 2014 when Annas Haqqani was arrested through its international partner who handed him over to Afghan and sentenced him to death penalty. However, it is not clear when his execution will be.

Recently the Taliban released two videos of the two captives in an undisclosed location. It ca be remembered that in 2017, the video of American and Australian professors were released and it was observed that the captives were pale and gaunt. The Australian professor pleaded to the President-elect Trump to intervene on their behalf. Weekes asked Trump in the video that if they will stay much longer under the hands of the Talibans they will be killed and that is what they do not want to happen. He added that everything is in Trump's hands by negotiating with the Talibans.

In an earlier video released by the Talibans, the two captives look healthy and the captives said they were treated well but they remain prisoners. On the other hand, the U.S. troops tried to conduct a rescue mission but there were no traces found of the captives in the raided place.

Reuters reports that while it is true that the captives look healthy in 2017, however Ghani said during the live telecast on Tuesday that their health has deteriorated. Meanwhile, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said that he will do his best for the release of the American Professor during his three-day visit in Washington.

A senior Pakistani official in Islamabad said that the discussion of the exchange of prisoners were participated by the Pakistani chief on Inter-Services Intelligence and Afghan officials. The next round of the negotiation of Afghan and Taliban will be in Beijing within this month.

Read more: Afghan president: 3 Taliban to be released for held US, Australian and Afghanistan to swap Taliban militants for American, Australian captives