The deal included a prisoner swap between the Taliban and the Afghan forces as a precursor to intra-Afghan talks for peace in the country after 19 years of a devastating war. However, the exchange of 5,000 Taliban prisoners for 1,000 of those from the security forces, originally set to commence on March 10, was offset by a dramatic spike in violence and disagreements between the Afghan government and the insurgents.

According to political analyst Safiullah Mullakhil, the delay in the peace talks showed "a lack of will, trust and honesty" between the government and the Taliban that has posed a threat to the process. "If the matter is not resolved in proper time, the process could end up in a failure that could push the country to other dangerous scenarios including civil war," Mullakhil told Efe news.

The insurgents, who had negotiated with the US for a withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan within 14 months, refused to engage in direct talks with Kabul and demanded the release of all 5,000 of their inmates as a precondition. On the other hand, the Afghan government, which was mostly sidelined from the negotiations, has argued against releasing a large number of Taliban prisoners amid increasing armed violence from the insurgents and without official discussions on the prisoner swap.

Mullakhil, a member of the Kabul-based Rana think-tank, believes the Taliban do not have faith in the intra-Afghan talks and have been making excuses to delay the process. Despite disagreements on the prisoner swap mechanism, the government has so far released 2,000 Taliban prisoners over the last two months, while the insurgent group only freed a few hundred security forces members. (IANS)

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