by Abdul Haleem
KABUL, April 29 (Xinhua) -- Afghan political observers are doubtful about the peace efforts initiated after the U.S.-Taliban peace deal was inked on Feb. 29 in Qatar capital Doha to facilitate the intra-Afghan talks to end the war in Afghanistan.
The exchange of 5,000 Taliban detainees from government prisons with 1,000 Afghan soldiers held by the Taliban as part of the deal is a pre-condition for initiating the intra-Afghan dialogue to find negotiated settlement to the country's prolonged war.
In line with the agreement, the swap of detainees was supposed to complete within 10 days from the day of inking the U.S.-Taliban deal to start the intra-Afghan talks but the dialogue process has not started as both sides have trading accusations of creating hurdle in the process.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that the group had signed the peace agreement with the United States to end the war in Afghanistan but the "Kabul administration by holding of thousands of prisoners in jail and delaying their release is making hurdle for implementing the peace agreement."
The Afghan government, according to Javid Faisal, the spokesman for National Security Council, has so far released 550 Taliban prisoners and will free 1,500 more over the next couple of weeks as part of the efforts to bolster the peace process.
In return, the Taliban, according to Faisal, has set free 61 detainees with the majority of them civilians.
For the release of 5,000 Taliban detainees, the government has demanded a ceasefire but the armed group has termed the demand as "irrational" and rejected it.
Afghan observers are skeptical over the peace process, believing the initiation of dialogue requires confidence-building measures from both sides.
"The Taliban group does not recognize the internationally recognized Afghan government and that was why it signed a peace deal with the United States to end the war in Afghanistan, but on the battleground it is fighting with Afghan forces," well-known analyst Shamsul Haq Arianfar told Xinhua.
"After inking the so-called peace deal with the United States, the Taliban militants and their leaders describe the group as the winner of the war in Afghanistan, believing they (Taliban fighters) have defeated the U.S.-led coalition forces in the country and would come to power by force after the foreign forces pull out," observed the analyst.
According to the expert, the Taliban leaders won't sit on the negotiating table with the Afghan government unless and until their shelters and financial resources outside Afghanistan are shut down.
The Taliban group won't negotiate with the delegation of the government unless and until regional actors and the world's big powers jointly push for the Afghan peace process and act as the guarantors of peace in the country, Arianfar said.
Expressing doubt over Taliban's intention for talks, another political analyst Nazari Pariani said that efforts for the peace process has been continuing for nearly two decades but the armed group has repeatedly rejected the offer and instead has been fighting to monopolize the power to re-establish the hardliner Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (name of former Taliban regime) ousted in late 2001. Enditem
