Another post-Bolton move? A kidnapped Australian and American professors? Kidnapped 3 years ago?The Afghan government plans to free three senior Haqqani Network leaders, including a brother and an uncle of deputy Taliban emir Sirajuddin Haqqani, in exchange for an American and an Australian professor who were kidnapped in 2016. The release of the three senior Haqqani leaders will provide a boost to the Taliban’s leadership, but likely will do little to further derail the moribund negotiations between the US and the Taliban.
We do negotiate for hostages no matter who is President. President Obama dropped ransom cash into Tehran to get hostages released, President Trump here does a prisoner swap. That link goes on to explain who the 3 prisoners were who were released in exchange for 2 professors.In exchange, the Afghan government will free Haji Malik Khan, Siraj’s uncle and a top leader in the network; Anas Haqqani, Siraj’s brother and a propagandist and ambassador; and Qari Abdul Rasheed Omari, the group’s military commander for southeastern Afghanistan.The US is likely pressuring Afghanistan to complete the swap in the hopes of a positive development in the negotiations, if history is any guide, it won’t have a positive effect. The Taliban has been clear in that past that prisoner exchanges are conducted merely to release their jailed comrades, and that it does not link such exchanges to peace talks.
Like the previous high-profile prisoner swap, the Taliban is likely to portray this exchange as a key victory. In addition to the propaganda win, the three leaders will also provide a boost to the Taliban’s leadership.
Before their capture, all three played key rolls within the group:
https://www.longwarjournal.org/archi...r-exchange.php