
As the one-year anniversary approaches of five former Taliban prisoners arriving in Qatar, talks are reportedly underway that could see their stay here extended.
According to theWashington Post, the US and Qatar are discussing additional security assurances that may include preventing the Taliban members from leaving Qatar beyond their one-year deadline, or transfering the former detainees to another country.
The men had been held by American forces in Guantanamo Bay before being remanded into Qatar’s custody last year. In exchange, the Taliban released US soldier Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who had been held captive for five years.
Apart from a one-year prohibition on leaving Qatar, the terms of the Taliban members’ release was not publicly disclosed. Sources told the Washington Post last year that restrictions also included a ban on fundraising and “military incitement.”
Upon arriving here, the men were quick to promise that they’d abide by the agreement they had reached with Qatar:
“We want to assure all stakeholders that we are steadfast and loyal to the agreement between the Islamic Emirate and State of Qatar that was made specifically for our release (from Guantanamo Bay),” they said in Urdu last June.
Earlier this year, however, some US politicians raised concerns about the Taliban members’ activities in Qatar. US Senator Lindsey Graham said the men had “reached out” to individuals fighting American forces in Afghanistan and may be looking to return to the battlefield.

Qatar’s foreign minister – Dr. Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah – called the reports “totally false.”
“They are living according to the agreement we signed with the United States,” he said at the time, according to Reuters.
American and Qatari security agencies “will monitor and pick up anything that will happen,” he said, adding, “I can assure you, no one has made an attempt to go back” to Afghanistan.
His statement gave no hint as to what may happen to the former detainees once the agreement expires.
‘Open discussions’ held in Qatar

Last week’s Washington Post story cited unnamed Qatari sources as saying that the government here has been waiting for their American counterparts to tell them what they want.
The story said that while Qatar is theoretically open to extending the agreement, it remains unclear whether officials here would agree to extending the restrictions on the former prisoners’ movements.
The five officials are thought to be living with their families outside of Doha.
The discussions about what to do with the men comes as Qatar said it is hosting a “national dialogue” between Afghan officials and Taliban representatives this weekend.
Qatar is keen to “establish security and stability in Afghanistan” through “open discussions,” said Yousif al Sada, the director of the Asian department at Qatar’s foreign ministry, according to the country’s state news agency.
Reuters quoted an official Taliban spokesperson as saying the organization’s participation in the conference “does not mean at all peace talks or negotiations.”
A key plank of Qatar’s foreign policy is to play the role of interlocutor between deeply divided parties. However, one analyst has suggested that the country’s connection to the Taliban is a hangover from years past when Qatar sought to actively involve itself as a peacemaker in regional conflicts.

Several Taliban members have lived in Qatar for years. In 2013, the group opened a political office in Dafna, which was reportedly aimed at facilitating negotiations between the Taliban, the Afghan government and the US.
However, it promptly closed less than a week later after drawing the ire of Afghanistan’s then-president, Hamad Karzai, for raising a flag and installing a placard that named the building a representative of the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” – the former name of the country when it was under Taliban rule.
Thoughts?
These people are murdering scum and oppressors in Afghanistan. I would suggest the moon would be a good place for them to live, without a space suit
You talking about the American GIs? I agree sending them to the moon will be the best thing for humanity.
Not the GIs, Bush should be in jail. I hope you are not defending these men, that would make you complicit in murder.
& i hope your not defending the american troops , that will make you a complicit in a mass massacre .
in the west politicians send soldiers to die, in the middle east religious crazies send warriors to die. Neither is right.
so defending them soldiers makes you what ????
No I say Qataris with American passports support American soldiers
you sir either drunk or just wanna have the last say in every thing (childish) .i rest my case
Why would say that? I know a number of Qataris that hold US passports, wouldn’t that make them complicit? (Holding dual nationality is illegal in Qatar)
when they start paying Tax there , we will have this discussion.
If American citizens they are required to pay taxes. If they do not the IRS, and then immigration, will come calling.
So they are breaking the law in two countries
You mean like what Boko Haram and ISIS and the Taliban, etc do?
such an stupid reply , those are groups , america is a country ? educate your self
So were not supposed to stop these people who pose a threat to safety and well being of populations worldwide? What’s Qatar do? Fund them.
you cant make an argument with your own make believe facts. oh wait its the american way. tell the lies & believe in it
What’s make believe? In your ivory tower of Qatar you don’t see anything but the next consumer item to buy. Please pinpoint my “lies”
This is what these people did to Afghanistan, laid the foundations where a woman gets tortured and killed for what they say was burning a book. It turned out it wasn’t true and if it was what animals do this to any other human being. This is what the Taliban’s legacy.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-32564886
thats the legacy the Americans left behind.
Really? They told the men to tortute and kill women over a book?
They learned barbarity from the Americans.
Does America have the death penalty for burning books?
Maybe, but they massacre a population in the name of democracy and capitalism that’s for sure.
I won’t defend the American actions over the last 15 years but they have left Afghanistan and Iraq now and didn’t get involved in Syria. However one thing is for certain, they were killing each other before the Americans were there and they are still killing each other now they have left.
You just have to look at the Sunni states destroying Yemen now because of a few Shias. A humanitarian disaster for Yemen, but hey since the first Caliphate this has been the way in the Middle East.
yet the Americans still supply those states with weapons , so being ignorant by saying (they were fighting before ) is not acceptable . they are worst . from making blood money out of the situation
Well so do the Russians, the french, British, iranians, Saudis and Qataris but here is a new idea. Why don’t those people stop killing each other and stop oppressing the population either through intimidation or religion.
if they were not fighting over that , they will find another thing to fight over , ( power over land , natural resources…) , never the less , only the worst kind of people will make money out of that situation .
You don’t have to burn books for Americans to kill you. You can sit at home or go to a wedding and they will drone you.
I’d argue that it was brought out long before the Americans; more like 35 years ago.
Barbarity existed since the dawn of time. With the Americans it reached levels of sophistication and atrocity never seen before
You obviously don’t know much about history. I’d suggest you start with World Wars I and II. Have a look at the Iran-Iraq war. Throw in some Stalin, add some Khmer Rouge into the mix, and just for fun, I’m going to mention the Holocaust as well, although I know where you’ll go with that.
“Throughout the world, on any given day, a man, woman or child is likely to be displaced, tortured, killed or “disappeared “, at the hands of governments or armed political groups. More often than not, the United States shares the blame.”
Amnesty International, 1996
LOL you quote a 20 yr old statement from AI
Yeah can you imagine what they have to say now after the Iraq War, the Afghanistan war, the Snowden leaks, etc. !!
AI blames the Americans for NOT intervening
Like what they did with Pinochet? Yeah they should have intervened more directly and helped him exterminate more people 🙂
Really? Your statement shows total ignorance on the subject of the Taliban in Afghanistan/Pakistan. Or just a convenient absent mindedness because of your anti american and anti semitic views.
on the contrary , its been common knowledge to every sane person that whats barbaric action were done by the US
What few incidences of “barbaric actions” taken were dealt with legally. I believe 3 Blackwater guys were just sentenced to life in prison, the Abu Gharib people were prosecuted, etc etc
and the reason of war to start with was what?? they left the country in more decay than it was under the old regime . praise them as much as you want. they are marked in history as war criminals.
Funny thing is “people in the ME are so selective. Pissed we were against the PLO which WAS a terrorist organization, pissed we considered the Balkans conflict a European issue to deal with and DID NOT stop the Serbs from slaughtering Bosnians, didn’t care that 100’s of thousands of non muslims and not the right muslims were slaughtered by leaders in Syria (Assad’s father) and Iraq (Saddam), and many other places in the ME but were pissed when we went in to solve the problem. Afghanistan harbors OBL after 9/11 and can’t understand that we were going after him no matter even after giving the Taliban the chance to hand him over. The best thing to do would’ve been to keep these despots in power and let them rule with an iron fist, slaughtering those who oppose them in extremely brutal ways, getting rich off the countries resources while the populations struggle to live. Without the Americans the world may just be speaking German now. The Americans did not start the problems in the ME. They’ve been here for a very long time and the archaic tribal thinking will be here for a long time to come I’m sure.
then let the Americans go to Palestine to help them , oh wait they cant because of conflict of interest , or go help the Ukrainians , oh wait again . they cant because of fear of conflict with the Russian . they only feel obligated ” TO HELP ” when its beneficiary . BLOOD MONEY .
The legacy was there long before the Americans went in.
no it was not , defending them wont make them any less of war criminals
Seriously? Are you like 10 yrs old? The Taliban were killing innocents long before they harbored OBL and since.
and how created this group to fight in their behalf against the Russian old regime. you guys even made a movie praising those people when they serviced American interest. so yeah good luck justifying that . war thirsty nation
Deleting the rest of this thread because it’s off-topic and devolving.
Here is something to back your argument, the US supplying weapons so Sunni Saudis can kill Shia Yemenis.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32572408
Where’s my comment about these people being murderous scum? That’s a fact, not an accusastion. I wonder how the families of those murdered by these people feel now they have a nice life in Doha.
I just call them the Talibunnies, and while their extreme views may be somewhat understood by a few,their approach to life is appalled by many. Keeping women and open minded people in such backward contempt is too far fetched from reality.Perhaps that would make for a good comedy reality tv show-“The Talibunnies”
Pakistan vs Taliban
https://iakal.wordpress.com/2015/07/23/pakistan-vs-taliban/