Taliban appoint former Guantanamo inmates to Qatar office
The Taliban militant group has appointed five former detainees, who were held at the US military detention center at the Guantanamo Bay, as members of the political office in Qatar, which recently hosted talks with the United States.
Sources in Taliban said on Wednesday that the five commanders, Mohammad Fazl, Mohammed Nabi, Khairullah Khairkhwa, Abdul Haq Wasiq and Noorullah Noori will participate in any future peace talks.
They had been kept for 12 years in the notorious US detention center before being freed in 2014 as part of a prisoner swap for American soldier Berg Bergdahl.
The appointments come amid ongoing talks between Washington and the militant group, 17 years after the US invasion of Afghanistan.
Earlier this month, representatives of Taliban met with a delegation led by veteran US diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad in the Qatari capital of Doha.
Taliban on October 13 announced they will continue the so-called peace talks with the United States, insisting, however, that no tangible agreement has been reached in the first round of discussions held in Doha a day earlier.
A Taliban member in Qatar said the political office has sought the opinions and advice of the five men in the past, although they had not joined the office earlier.
"They have been contributing to certain important matters in their private capacity. Now they are officially declared as members of the Qatar-based political council and would represent Taliban movement in peace talks with the foreign leaders," a member of the Taliban political office in Qatar said on condition of anonymity, adding that the five commanders had been subject to a travel ban, but they would now be able to move and attend peace talks.
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