After mixed-accounts circulated this morning, a number of Kandahar MPs and an official involved in the negotiations have confirmed that 11 Taliban-affiliated prisoners were exchanged by the government for the release of MP Fariba Ahmadi Kakar, who was abducted by the Taliban over three weeks ago.
The group of prisoners swapped for Ms. Kakar on Saturday night, reportedly included a child and four women affiliated with the Taliban, one of which was said to have been involved in the attack on Asadullah Khalid, head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), back in September of 2012.
Sayed Mohammad Akbar Agha, former leader of Jaish-al-Muslimeen; Din Mohammad, member of the High Peace Council (HPC); and Masoom Stanekzai, the head of the HPC Secretariat, all participated in the negotiations with the Taliban for Ms. Kakar's release. NDS personnel reportedly executed the exchange on Saturday night.
MPs from Kandahar who commented on the release warned the government that brokering such deals with the Taliban was "very dangerous," and if made common could lead to the insurgents ramping up their attacks with thought of impunity.
"As I have been informed, a woman who was involved in the attack on Assadullah Khalid, head of the National Directorate of Security, was included in the 11 prisoners, which is very dangerous. It raises concerns about the decisions of the government," said Kandahar MP Mohammad Neam Lalai Hamidzai.
Mr. Sayed Agha, said that "four women, Nasir, Lajawar, Manzara, Ayesha and a child were among the released prisoners." The other six prisoners, presumably, were male associates of the Taliban.
Friba Ahmadi Kakar was abducted in Qarabagh district of Ghazni province while traveling with her daughters on her way from Kandahar to Kabul almost a month ago.
Prior to the most recent reports, Musa Khan Akbarzada, the Governor of Ghazni, had said that Ms. Kakar was released after tribal elders negotiated with the Taliban. Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman of the Taliban, said that the swap was for four imprisoned relatives of members of the Taliban. Assuming the new details are correct, it would appear these earlier accounts were slightly inaccurate.
However, these would not be the first misreports circulated since Ms. Kakar's abduction. Mohammad Dawood, Ms. Kakar's husband, told media back in August that his wife was not kidnapped and instead was on an official trip to Turkey. Mr. Dawood even went so far as to provide a phone number to contact his wife. But when TOLOnews tried to call the number it was out of service. Local Kandahar and Ghazni officials denied Mr. Dawood's claims, and it would seem given recent events that his reports were in fact entirely false.
The abduction of Ms. Kakar marks another example of increasing efforts by the Taliban to target female government officials. At the beginning of August, Nimroz province Senator Rogul Khairzad barely survived a Taliban assassination attempt that resulted in her daughter's death.