The Taliban announced the termination of talks with the Afghan authorities on the exchange of prisoners, Reuters reported. 

Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Islamist insurgent group’s political office in Qatar, tweeted that a technical team would not participate in “fruitless meetings” and the release of their prisoners was being “delayed under one pretext or another”.

Earlier, the Afghan television channel Tolo News informed that the first exchange will take place on April 2. In exchange, the Taliban were expected to free 20 members of the Afghan security forces. Both sides would aim to release the 6,000 prisoners they are holding.