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Afghan Taliban Blame US for Failed Prisoner Swap

Ayaz Gul

   ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - The Afghan Taliban areblaming the United States
   for this week's failed prisoner swap between the two adversaries,
   saying the American side did not show up at a mutually agreed upon
   venue, somewhere inside Afghanistan.

   ZabihullahMujahid, the chief spokesman for the insurgent group, told
   VOA on Friday that the deal was suspended for now, and that it was up
   to U.S. officials to explain why they reneged on their promise.

   The prisoner exchange could have secured freedom for two Western
   hostages, American Kevin King and Australian Timothy John Weeks, who
   have been in Taliban captivity since August 2016.

   Three insurgents

   In return, three high-profile insurgent detainees, including death row
   prisoner Anas Haqqani, the younger brother of the Taliban's deputy
   chief of military operations, Sirajuddin Haqqani, would have been
   released from the Bagram jail north of the Afghan capital.

   "As per the deal with the Americans, our prisoners were to be taken to
   the mutually agreed safe location and freed there. We would have then
   released and handed the American (and his colleague) over to them,"
   Mujahid said in a Pashto language audio message he sent to VOA.

   There was no immediate reaction from the U.S. to the Taliban
   assertions.

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