Summary
Afghanistan will release two senior Taliban commanders and a leader of the Haqqani militant group in exchange for an American and an Australian professor who were kidnapped in 2016, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Tuesday.
The government's decision to free Anas Haqqani and two other Taliban commanders in a prisoner swap was taken in the hope of securing direct talks with the Taliban, which has hitherto refused to engage with what it calls an illegitimate "puppet" regime in Kabul.
It is believed to be based in Pakistan and is part of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Ghani said authorities had been unable to discover where the Taliban were holding the two captive.
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