Afghanistan, Pakistan move toward prisoner exchange

KABUL): An Afghan delegation talked with Pakistani officials regarding an exchange of prisoners and other issues during its visit to Islamabad last week, officials said. 

Representatives from each country’s Interior Ministry also discussed establishing security checkpoints, conducting joint military operations, and issuing visas to each other’s diplomats, Interior Ministry Deputy Spokesman Najib Nikzad told Pajhwok Afghan News. Pakistani Interior Minister Rahman Malik said last Friday that he had spoken with his Afghan counterpart, Gen. Bismillah Mohammadi, regarding these issues. 

Afghanistan will soon establish committees to make decisions jointly on those issues, Nikzad said. 

The Afghan Interior Ministry has asked the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs to prepare a list of the Afghan prisoners in Pakistan to be exchanged after the committees are established, he said. The list will also include those prisoners’ alleged crimes. 

There are more than 100 Pakistanis in Afghan jails. They were incarcerated for cooperation with militants, performing terrorist activities or lacking proper legal documents, General Director of Jails Lt. Gen. Amir Mohamad Jamshid said. 

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