WASHINGTON: The United States is not ruling out discussions with the Taliban on a prisoner swap as it works to bring home the only US soldier held captive by the militants, a US official said Thursday.
As Washington works to schedule talks with the Taliban, there is a recognition that the Islamist militia will likely want to discuss the release of senior operatives held in the US military jail in Guantanamo Bay.
“We have not made a decision to transfer any Taliban detainees from Guantanamo Bay, though we anticipate, as I've said, that the Taliban will all raise this issue,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.
She stressed that winning the release of US soldier Bowe Bergdahl, captured on June 30, 2009 by the Taliban, was “a priority” for the United States.
“We'll talk with the Taliban ... about the safe return of Sergeant Bergdahl. He's been gone far too long,” Psaki said.
“We continue to call for and work towards his safe and immediate release.” But she stressed no date or venue had yet been set for the direct US-Taliban talks, after a dispute over the naming of the Taliban's new office in Qatar appeared to have scuppered initial plans to meet this week.
Special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan James Dobbins, who will lead the talks, is still ready to go to the region, Psaki said.
She implied Dobbins could fly with US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is heading to Qatar on Friday. Psaki emphatically ruled out, however, that Kerry himself would meet with the Taliban.
Bergdahl was captured in Afghanistan on June 30, 2009. He said in a video that he was captured when he fell behind his unit during a patrol.
Although the process of talking with the Taliban has not even started yet, Psaki stressed that the administration would “work closely with Congress in coordinating these decisions as well.” The Pentagon would also have to be notified and consulted if there were any plans to release Guantanamo prisoners.
Up to 17 Taliban militants are believed to be held at Guantanamo, although only five or six are thought to be a focus of the Taliban's proposed prisoner swap.
