ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan on Friday sent its second high-level delegation in weeks to Islamabad to press for the release of Taliban prisoners in a bid to kickstart peace efforts, officials said.
Talks this month between Pakistan and Afghanistan's High Peace Council resulted in the release of nine Taliban, but not the militia's former deputy leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who was captured in 2010.
Afghan officials believe senior Taliban leaders held in Pakistan could help bring militants to the negotiating table, if released from jail, to end over a decade of war ahead of the 2014 pull-out of US-led NATO troops.
"I hope that we will continue to implement other concrete measures in a timely manner and push the peace process forward so that all those who can help advance the peace process go free," said Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul.
He spoke following talks with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar and before meeting Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf.
An Afghan official told AFP ahead of the meetings that Rassoul would ask for the release of further Taliban detainees in Pakistan, including Baradar.
The Taliban, leading an 11-year insurgency since the 2001 US-led invasion, has welcomed the releases, but refuses to negotiate directly with Kabul, calling the government of President Hamid Karzai a US puppet.
Pakistan confirmed that the release of prisoners had been discussed again Friday.
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