| US sweetens Taliban prisoner proposal |
WASHINGTON The Obama administration, in a move aimed at reviving Afghan peace talks, has sweetened a proposed deal under which it would transfer Taliban detainees from Guantanamo Bay prison in exchange for a US soldier held by Taliban allies in Pakistan.
The revised proposal, a concession from an earlier US offer, would alter the sequence of the move of five senior Taliban figures held for years at the US military prison to Qatar, sources said.
US officials have hoped the prisoner exchange, proposed as a good-faith move in initial discussions between US negotiators and Taliban officials, would open the door to peace talks between militants and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
The revised proposal would send all five Taliban prisoners to Qatar first, said sources. Only then would the Taliban be required to release Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, the only US prisoner of war.
Bergdahl, now 26 years old, disappeared from his base in southern Afghanistan in June 2009 and is believed to be being held by Taliban militants in Pakistan. The White House and the Bergdahl family declined to comment on the revised proposal for a deal.
Agencies
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