Taliban recalls negotiators after suspending prisoner exchange talks

The Taliban on Tuesday recalled the group's negotiators from Kabul hours after they suspended talks on a prisoner exchange process with the Afghan government, a spokesman for the hard-line Islamist group said in a tweet. Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for Taliban's political office in Qatar, said "the intentional delays in the release of our prisoners violates the peace agreement, therefore we call back our technical team back from Kabul".

Early on Tuesday, the militant group broke off talks with the Afghan government on a prisoner exchange by calling it a series of "fruitless meetings" that were seen as crucial steps in peace talks being brokered by the United States after it agreed on a troop withdrawal pact with the militants.

Their decision represented the latest setback for the US-led effort to end America's longest war and decades of strife in Afghanistan that also has been hampered by violence and a leadership feud between the country's top politicians. The February pact between the United States and the Taliban, under which US-led international forces will withdraw in phases in exchange for Taliban security guarantees, is the best chance yet of ending the 18-year US military involvement in Afghanistan.

But peace hinges on talks between the US-backed Afghan government and the militants. A prisoner exchange is meant to build confidence on both sides for those talks.

A spokesman for the government said it would continue working on the prisoner release plan. "We ask the Taliban to not sabotage the process by making excuses now," said Javid Faisal, a spokesman for the National Security Council in Kabul.

The Taliban suspension of the talks could lead to an escalation of violence, which in turn could threaten the plan to withdraw US troops, a major objective of US President Donald Trump. (Reuters)