KABUL: (Middle East Press) Qatar has extended the travel ban for five senior Taliban leaders who were released in exchange for a U.S. soldier Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl last year.
The ban was expiring during this week but Qatari government decided yesterday that the ban will remain in place.
However the five Taliban leaders will still be under extensive monitoring and will not be able to travel.
In the days leading up to the end of the two-year ban, the Afghan High Peace Council (HPC) warned of damaging consequences if the former prisoners were allowed to rejoin the Taliban and contribute to their insurgency.
In Washington, the White House had however assured that the U.S. would prevent the five men from becoming threats to Afghanistan once again. In the past, Taliban prisoners freed under former president Hamid Karzai, and across the border in Pakistan, have often reintegrated with militants and taken up arms against the Afghan government again.
United States released these five leaders according to an agreement with Taliban in May 2014.
Based on the agreement the five Taliban senior Taliban commanders were traded for Bergdahl, a U.S. soldier who was hostage with Taliban at the time.
Author
