KABUL – In an attempt to step up efforts for peace and reconciliation, Afghanistan has asked Pakistan to hand it over five top imprisoned militant commanders, a media report.
National Security Advisor Hanif Atmar recommended the names of Taliban commanders on the sidelines of the 72nd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York last month, Pakistani newspaper the Express Tribune quoted Tolo News journalist Abdul Haq Omari as saying.
According to the adviser, he handed over the list to Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif comprising 35 commanders, five of whom have a say in Taliban Shura and could play a role for peace in the war-ravaged Afghanistan.
The meeting between the sides on UNGA sidelines followed a recent visit by Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa to Kabul. Bajwa has invited the Afghan president to visit Islamabad in near future.
The Afghan government and its international partners seem to accelerate efforts at bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table as military option over the years failed to stabilize Afghanistan.
Another Afghan interior ministry official present at the Kabul meeting revealed names of the five commanders, including co-founder of Afghan Taliban Mullah Ghani Baradar, senior members of the so-called Quetta Shura Mullah Ahmadullah Nani, Mullah Sammad Sani, and Mullah Suliman Agha who was arrested from a seminary in Quetta’s Satellite Town along with four others on October 11, 2014, the Express Tribune said.
The two sides had agreed in principle to ink an agreement in the next session in Islamabad to exchange prisoners jailed on either side of the border. (Pajhwok)