the release of prisoners <\/a>until the exchange was complete earlier this month \u2014 5,000 Taliban freed by the Afghan government and 1,000 government and military personnel who were released by the Taliban. The prisoner release was also set in the U.S.-Taliban deal as a prerequisite for the start of the intra-Afghan negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHowever, the negotiations will begin under difficult circumstances, marred by stepped up attacks on Afghan forces by the Taliban, target killings and attempted assassinations. Scores of civilians have died in the crossfire. There have also been attacks on released Taliban prisoners returning to their homes and accusations by the insurgents of being attacked inside their homes with their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abdullah Abdullah, the head of Afghanistan\u2019s High Council for National Reconciliation, the body that is overseeing the negotiations on behalf of the government, will attend the opening of the talks but the day-to-day negotiations will be carried out by a team headed by Mohammed Masoom Stanikzai, a former intelligence chief. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abdullah was appointed head the council as part of a power-sharing agreement with Ghani to end a political standoff between the two following last year\u2019s controversial presidential elections. The country\u2019s election commission declared Ghani the winner while Abdullah claimed he had won and went on to self-declare himself president. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The impasse lasted for months \u2014 also delaying the start of the intra-Afghan negotiations \u2014 before the U.S. negotiated a power-sharing deal under which Abdullah joined the government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Taliban\u2019s 21-member negotiation team is headed by their chief justice Abdul Hakim and includes 13 members of the insurgent\u2019s leadership council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pompeo in his statement warned both sides against squandering this opportunity to hammer out a negotiated end to the fighting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis opportunity must not be squandered,\u201d Pompeo said. \u201cImmense sacrifice and investment by the United States, our partners, and the people of Afghanistan have made this moment of hope possible. I urge the negotiators to demonstrate the pragmatism, restraint, and flexibility this process will require to succeed. The people of Afghanistan and the international community will be watching closely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also Thursday, Trump, who promised in the 2016 presidential campaign to bring U.S. troops home from Afghanistan, announced he has picked William Ruger, vice president for research and policy at the Arlington, Virginia-based Charles Koch Institute, as the next ambassador to Kabul. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Picking Ruger, a veteran of the war who advocates withdrawing U.S. forces from the country, is seen as a way for Trump to underscore his desire to do just that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are those who would like to see us remain at war in Afghanistan long into the future,\u201d Ruger has said. \u201cBut the president should not allow a withdrawal deal to be bogged down by conditions that aren\u2019t necessary for America\u2019s safety.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump has a narrow window to get Ruger confirmed by the Senate, which is set to recess in mid-October before the U.S. presidential election in early November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Deb Riechmann in Washington and Tameem Akhgar in Kabul, Afghanistan, contributed to this report<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n