Posted on 01/09/2012 11:22:47 AM PST by Cardhu
The United States has reportedly released three high-ranking Taliban leaders from Guantanamo Bay Prison in return for an American soldier held by the militant group.
The move is also considered as a big concession by Washington to persuade the Taliban to the negotiating table.
The three senior Taliban leaders are reportedly on their way to Qatar despite strong opposition from Afghanistan.
According to media reports, the released prisoners include Mullah Khair Khowa, a former interior minister, Noorullah Noori, a former governor in northern Afghanistan and maybe Mullah Fazl Akhund, a Taliban Army Chief of Staff.
Kabul says the prisoners must be sent directly to Afghanistan, stressing that their transfer to Qatar is a breach of Afghanistan's sovereignty, Afghan laws or the Afghan constitution.
The Taliban, which is planning to open a political office in Qatar for peace talks with Washington, has recently been pressing hard for the release of its top commanders from US custody ahead of possible negotiations.
Analysts, however, believe that US President Barack Obama's decision to release the top Taliban commanders will do tremendous harm to American national security and to his prospects for reelection.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, under US pressure, agreed to let the militant group establish an office outside Afghanistan. The Afghan president strongly rejected the idea previously, saying that he was not consulted with over the potential venue of a Taliban office.
In December, the Afghan government recalled its Ambassador to Qatar Khalid Ahmad Zakaria to protest at Doha "secretly negotiating" with the US and Germany over the opening of a Taliban office in Qatar.
Washington's decision to hold negotiations with the Taliban comes after a decade the US-led war on Afghanistan under the pretext of toppling the Taliban regime.
The 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan has claimed numerous civilian lives and destroyed the country's infrastructure.
They should be shot on sight! As soon as they kill again we know exactly where to lay the blame!
:(
Couldn't we offer them Obozo and Minnie the Moocher instead? That would be a win-win. No backs!
That move will cost a lot more than the 1 soldier repatriated.
...yeah, uh, it's a violation of ONE of those things - we just haven't figured out which one yet...
Juda Priest
We should have traded them for One Eye himself, instead we got absolutely nothing
I’ll wait for a credible source report on this. Press TV is the National Press of Iran. Not interested in any BS from their Baghdad Bob News Division.
Do we have al Qaeda within our gates ?
“I assure you, there are NO Taliban within a hundred miles of here!”
[chuckle]
WTF? No mention whatsoever of the Taliban's involvement harboring Al Qaeda, or allowing it's country to be used as a training ground for terrorists, never mind culpability in the 9-11 attacks. Only that we invaded, killed their civilains and destroyed their infrastructure?
Typical
uh...what soldier is this? Is he deceased?
Ah , must be pulling out of Afghanistan very soon
release them all. meet them on the battlefield. Justice is more swift. Otherwise they get fat with three hots and a cot, and job ffers from MSNBC as an al Queda analyst.
Why weren’t they released from the back of a C-17 at 30,000 feet?
Did we at least implant some lojack on these guys before trading them? You know for sending a few presents later?
Cash and a apology are following. Obama doesn’t want to besmirch his image with his brethren.
Why could we have had a American president as opposed to a alien muslim?
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