OBAMA ADMINISTRATION NEGOTIATING WITH TERRORIST...

U.S. Releases High-Level Insurgents in Secret Exchange AS PRECONDITION FOR PEACE TALKS...

The United States has released high-level detainees from the Parwan military detention center (WaPo) in Afghanistan as part of a strategic bargaining tool used to extract concessions from Afghan insurgent and military groups, U.S. officials reportedly confirmed.

Unlike at Guantanamo, releasing prisoners from the Parwan detention center, the only American military prison in Afghanistan, does not require congressional approval and can be done clandestinely. And although official negotiations with top insurgent leaders are seen by many as an endgame for the war, which has claimed nearly 2,000 U.S. lives, the strategic release program has a less ambitious goal: to quell violence in concentrated areas where NATO is unable to ensure security, particularly as troops continue to withdraw. The releases are intended to produce tactical gains but are not considered part of a grand bargain with the Taliban. The releases have come amid broader efforts to end the decade-long war through negotiation, which is a central feature of the Obama administration’s strategy for leaving Afghanistan. Those efforts, however, have yielded little to no progress in recent years. In part, they have been stymied by the unwillingness of the United States to release five prisoners from Guantanamo Bay — a gesture that insurgent leaders have said they see as a precondition for peace talks.

Related Articles:
Washington Post