US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad on Friday said he sees “no legitimate reason” to delay the intra-Afghan negotiations that are expected in near future but have been postponed over differences on the release of high-value Taliban prisoners by the Afghan government.

On August 9, nearly 3,400 Afghan delegates at a three-day Loya Jirga, the grand council, approved the release of 400 high-value prisoners of the Taliban whose release was the main hurdle for the intra-Afghan negotiations.

Two days after that, the government released 80 of the prisoners, but conditioned the release of the remaining to the release of at least 20 Afghan commandos in Taliban custody, according to officials.  

Khalilzad made the remarks in a tweet on the death of a high-ranking education official, Abdul Baqi Amin, who was killed in an explosion in Kabul on Wednesday.

https://tolonews.com/afghanistan/%E2%80%98no-legitimate-reason%E2%80%99-delay-talks-says-khalilzad