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KABUL, Afghanistan – Five senior Taliban officials who spent years in the US prison camp at Guantánamo joined the political bureau of the insurgency in Qatar at a time when this delegation was at the center of US efforts to launch a process of peace, Taliban officials said on Wednesday.
The five high-ranking members of the original Taliban movement – including the Taliban government's army chief, a minister, a deputy intelligence chief, and two governors – were released in 2014 in exchange for the death penalty. an American soldier held by the insurgency, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. The five people were transferred to Qatar, where officials said about 30 Taliban leaders were living with their families and remained under the surveillance of the country's government.
Their adherence to the Taliban's political commission, which will give them greater freedom of movement, comes just days after Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a long-time member of the insurgency, was also released into the ranks of the Taliban. Mullah Baradar was arrested during a joint raid between Pakistan and the United States in 2010 and remained in detention in Pakistan.
Recent events follow two rounds of meetings between Taliban and leading US diplomats after the Trump government ordered direct contacts to try to revive the peace process in Afghanistan.
It remains unclear to what extent the release of Mullah Baradar and the accession of the other five main members, confirmed by a Taliban statement, will have a positive effect on the launching of a peace process.
Although the six men were high-ranking leaders and among the first members of the Taliban movement that came to power in the mid-1990s, they have been out of the ranks for a long time. During their absence, the Taliban went through two leadership transitions.
Their return to the fold could be seen as an effort to balance the influence of Taliban MP, Sarajuddin Haqqani, as heir to his father's Haqqani militant network, who, as commander of the operations, was behind some of the most brutal attacks of the war.
Although the peace talks have taken on urgency, the violence has continued at a steady pace.
In the Afghan capital, Kabul, a suicide bomber blew up explosives Wednesday in front of the Pul-e-Charkhi prison, killing at least five people, according to health officials. Local media According to reports, the suicide bomber targeted a bus carrying prison workers.
In Uruzgan province, in the south of the country, chaotic violence continued for a fourth day, killing at least 21 people, government officials said. The nature of the violence in Khas Uruzgan district was not very clear, but officials said that there were clashes between the Taliban and an abusive local commander named Hakim Shujaee. Hundreds of families have been trapped in the fighting or have left their homes.
In the western province of Farah, an Afghan army helicopter crashed, killing 25 people on board, according to Mohammed Naseer Mehri, spokesman for the governor on the spot. The dead included senior officials, including provincial council members and security commanders. Although the Taliban claimed to have targeted the helicopter, Mr. Mehri said that the enemy had not taken any action in the incident.
Despite some suggestions that the return of the older generation Taliban at a time when the new leadership had just strengthened its grip largely through gains on the battlefield could cause insecurities, commanders on the field were categorical: they would have no effect of this type.
"These people can play a positive role in politics and they are deeply respected by the leaders," said Mullah Shirin Hameedi, Taliban commander in the south of the country, who has already been chief of security of the group's founding leader. "If the leaders had fears on their part, they would not be allowed to play politics. We are all committed to our mission, whether old or new. "
Borhan Osman, senior analyst for Afghanistan at the International Crisis Group, said it was not clear how much America's role in Mullah's liberation Baradar and the expansion of freedom of the so-called Guantanamo Five had been expanded. But he added that these two factors could be seen as a result of the recent momentum of talks between the Americans and the Taliban, as well as improved cooperation with Pakistan.
"For a long time, the Taliban asked questions: they were released from Guantánamo but their freedom was restricted in Doha," said Osman, referring to the capital of Qatar. "Some considered their transfer to Qatar as a small victory. Their return to the scene, for whatever reason, could alleviate these concerns. "
Osman said internal talks between the Taliban in recent months suggested that they wanted to strengthen their negotiating team in Qatar and that "injecting the five was the most natural and rational way to strengthen the Taliban." ;team.
On the sidelines of a counterterrorism conference in Doha, Qatar's Special Envoy for Counter-Terrorism and Conflict Mediation Mutlaq bin Majed al-Qahtani congratulated the Trump government for its decision To engage in direct talks with the Taliban, stating that there was "no military solution" that would bring peace and stability to Afghanistan after 17 years of war.
Stressing that each party to the peace talks must decide who will represent it, Qahtani said it was the Taliban's decision to ask former Guantánamo detainees to be part of the official delegation of their office in Doha.
"It's not our decision," he said. "This is not the decision of the US government. It is their decision to name who they think is best for them to negotiate on their behalf. "
But he stressed that the prominent role played by former Guantánamo detainees in the Taliban prior to their capture was reason enough for their participation in the peace talks to be a good thing.
"Bearing in mind the role they once had, they could perhaps play a positive role in national reconciliation and the peace process in Afghanistan," said Qahtani. "I understand that the Afghan government had no objection to that. They understand the reason. We hope the Americans have the same hope that this new development will bring added value to the office, to the Taliban delegation. "
