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Afghan Council Asks US to Release Taliban Detainee

10 February 2011 04:48 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Afghanistan’s High Peace Council has asked the United States to release a Taliban official held at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba so he can join reconciliation talks in Afghanistan, APA reports quoting â€œThe Voice of Americaâ€.

The peace council is seeking the release of Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa, who served as interior minister when the Taliban controlled the government, and as the governor of Herat. The council was established last year by President Karzai to serve as a forum for reconciliation talks with the Taliban.

The New York Times newspaper reports Afghan President Hamid Karzai has also backed the request.

Khairkhwa has been held at the U.S. military base since 2002.

U.S. officials have not commented on the request. Washington has been reluctant to release Taliban prisoners after one detainee, Abdul Quyam Zakir, was released from Guantanamo to Afghanistan only to return to the Taliban as the group’s second-in-command.