Afghanistan's Taliban are playing hardball with members of a conference aimed at reigniting peace talks within the Middle East, demanding the release of political prisoners as one the conditions required before they would consider rejoining the effort.
Among the "preliminary steps need for peace," the Islamist insurgents are demanding the release of various political prisoners, the group's removal from a UN blacklist freezing their assets and imposing a travel ban on its leaders and ending the "poisonous propaganda" campaigns carried out at their expense, according to Quadrangle Online.
"Without them, progress towards peace is not feasible," the group said in a statement Sunday.
These demands came a day after representatives of the Taliban and former Afghan officials met in Qatar at a conference, organized by Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, to resolve the conflict in Afghanistan. This marked a rare occurrence that has proved difficult ever since the Taliban were driven from power by a U.S.-led military operation in 2001, and have been fighting to regain control ever since, according to The Express Tribune.
It also comes several days after Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States met for their latest round of discussions to lay the groundwork for ending the 15-year conflict. However, the Taliban, who have been invited multiple times throughout the course of the international talks, have been notably absent from each one.
The first formal peace talks with the Taliban since the outbreak of the war deteriorated last year after the group announced Mullah Mohammad Omar, the Taliban's founder and the one who sanctioned the talks, had been dead for two years, according to Reuters.
In the meantime, the Taliban have stepped up their attacks across Afghanistan in recent months, which experts believe is a bid by the militants to gain greater leverage when they decide to join the peace talks.
