- Republicans criticise Obama for releasing Taliban without notifying Congress 30 days in advance
- Mullah Omar terms prisoner swap ‘big victory’, thanks Qatar for playing role in release of insurgents
- Hagel hopes release of Bergdahl would lead to direct talks with Taliban
While Republican lawmakers, including Representative Howard ‘Buck’ McKeon of California and Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, have said that US President Barack Obama violated US law when he approved an exchange involving prisoners at Guantanamo without notifying Congress 30 days in advance, the White House has clarified its position saying that officials considered what they called ‘unique and exigent circumstances’ and decided to go ahead with the transfer in spite of the legal requirement.
With eyes on the US government regarding the prisoners’ swap, Afghan Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar has hailed the release of five senior insurgents in exchange for US soldier Bowe Bergdahl as a “big victory”.
“I extend my heartfelt congratulations to the entire Afghan Muslim nation, all the mujahideen and to the families and relatives of the prisoners for this big victory regarding the release of five Taliban leaders from Guantanamo prison,” Mullah Omar said in a rare statement.
“I thank the government of Qatar, especially its emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad (Al Thani), who made sincere efforts for release of these leaders and for their mediation and for hosting them,” he added.
The five transferred Taliban detainees have been named by the US State Department as Mullah Fazl, Mullah Noorullah Noori, Muhammad Nabi, Khairullah Khairkhwa and Abdul Haq Wasiq.
The Human Rights Watch says Mullah Fazl could be prosecuted for war crimes for presiding over the mass killing of Shias in Afghanistan in 2000 and 2001 as the Taliban sought to consolidate their control over the country.
Khairkhwa, who is also about 47, served as the interior minister and governor of Herat province. According to his Gitmo file, he was ‘directly associated’ with both Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar, and was also ‘one of the major opium drug lords in western Afghanistan’.
Noori, who is around the same age, was a Taliban military commander stationed in Mazar-e-Sharif in 2001. Like Fazl, he is implicated in the murder of thousands of Afghan Shias who opposed the Taliban.
Nabi served as chief of security for the Taliban in Qalat, Afghanistan, and later worked as a radio operator for the Taliban’s communications office in Kabul while Wasiq was the Taliban deputy minister of intelligence.
HAGEL HAILS RELEASE OF POW:
US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel on Sunday hoped that the release of Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl would lead to direct US talks with the Taliban. In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Hagel noted that the US had engaged in talks with the Taliban before, until they were broken off in 2012.
“So maybe this will be a new opening that can produce an agreement,” he said.
The men’s release had long been the main condition imposed by the Taliban to launch peace negotiations with the US.
Contacts between the two sides were broken off several times by the Taliban after Washington refused to release the prisoners, with the rebels saying the refusal meant the US was not serious about negotiations.
But secret talks nevertheless took place during the past year that led to the exchange, a Taliban official said.
The official was careful, however, to avoid any speculation that those contacts could soon lead to peace negotiations.
A total of 149 detainees now remain at GuantanamoBay prison. Among them, there are 12 Afghans, including four currently approved for transfer.
Bergdahl disappeared in June 2009 from a base in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province, with the Taliban later saying they had captured him.
The Idaho native was the only US soldier held captive by the militants in the nearly 13-year war. The sergeant was reported to have been held in Pakistan for the majority of his captivity.
“Today, the American people are pleased that we will be able to welcome home Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, held captive for nearly five years,” US President Barack Obama said in announcing his release.
Obama’s announcement came as Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel said he had informed the US Congress of the decision to transfer five Guantanamo detainees to Qatar.
“The United States has coordinated closely with Qatar to ensure that security measures are in place and the national security of the United States will not be compromised,” Hagel said.
