Afghanistan plans to send a delegation to the US prison camp in Cuba's Guantanamo to negotiate the release of Taliban detainees, a senior official said Tuesday.
"We intend to send a delegate to Guantanamo," said Arsala Rahmani, chairman of the High Peace Council's Committee on Prisoners. "They will meet with all the Afghan detainees there and discuss their release with the relevant authorities."
President Hamid Karzai formed the council last year to broker a peace deal between his government and Taliban-led militants, who have waged a bloody insurgency against the government and international forces, DPA reported.
Rahmani said the delegation would discuss with US officials the release of all Afghan detainees including Khairullah Khairkhwa.
Khairkhwa, who hails from the southern province of Kandahar, served as spokesman for fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Omar and later as the Taliban interior minister and governor of the western province of Herat.
He was arrested by coalition forces after the Taliban regime was toppled in late 2001 and sent to Guantanamo prison.
"Khairkhwa can help us to reach out for peace in Afghanistan, because he is respected among the Taliban and other common Afghans," said Rahmani, who himself served as deputy education minister during the Taliban regime.
Rahmani gave no date for the planned visit other than saying that his team was working with the US government on obtaining visas.
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