Page 10 - AT

A10 WORLD NEWS
Monday 2 March 2020
Afghan peace deal hits first snag over prisoner releases

By KATHY GANNON no terror attacks would be the White House that he
Associated Press launched from Afghan soil. will be "meeting personally
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) The intra-Afghan talks be- with Taliban leaders in the
— Afghanistan's president tween squabbling political not-too-distant future," and
said Sunday that he will factions and rival Taliban in described the group as
not free thousands of Tal- Afghanistan are even more "tired of war."
iban prisoners ahead of intricate — even if a poten- He did not say where or
all-Afghan power-sharing tial failure might not slow why he plans to meet with
talks set for next week, the withdrawal of Ameri- Taliban leaders. He said
publicly disagreeing with a can forces. he thinks they are seri-
timetable for a speedy pris- In an interview with The As- ous about the deal they
oner release laid out just a sociated Press, Qatari For- signed but warned that if
day earlier in a U.S.-Taliban eign Minister Mohammad it fails, the U.S. could restart
peace agreement. bin Abdulrahman Al Thani combat. "We think we'll be
President Ashraf Ghani's said he considered a pris- successful in the end," he
comments pointed to the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks during a news oner exchange an impor- said, referring to all-Afghan
first hitch in implementing conference at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, tant confidence-building peace talks and a final U.S.
the fragile deal, which is Sunday, March, 1, 2020. measure. "Everything is in- exit.
aimed at ending America's Associated Press terconnected," he said Sun- But he also warned: "If bad
longest war after more than off-again talks with the Tal- wasn't a promise the United day about the agreement's things happen, we'll go
18 years and getting rival iban to hammer out the States could make. He said 14-month timeframe. back" in with military fire-
Afghan factions to agree agreement. the release of any prisoners "The prisoner exchange will power. Afghans in eastern
on their country's future. The U.S.-Taliban deal was a decision for his gov- be one of the first confi- Nangarhar posted pictures
Still, the U.S. has said a signed Saturday in the Mid- ernment to take and that dence-building measures, of dozens of men dancing
planned U.S. troop with- dle Eastern State of Qatar he wasn't ready to release so it will remain a very criti- in the street to celebrate
drawal over the next 14 envisions the release of up prisoners before the start of cal step that we need to the signing. In eastern Khost
months is linked to the Tal- to 5,000 Taliban prisoners negotiations. push forward," he added. province, a Taliban strong-
iban's counter-terrorism by the Afghan government The U.S.-Taliban deal is seen U.S. officials, travelling with hold, the night sky was
performance, not to prog- ahead of talks between as a historic opportunity to Secretary of State Pompeo alight with red tracer bullets
ress in intra-Afghan talks. Afghan factions meant to extricate the United States on his return to America, fired by celebrating resi-
Washington's Peace En- begin March 10 in the Nor- from Afghanistan, a nation noted that the agreement dents. Footballers in south-
voy, Zalmay Khalilzad, who wegian capital of Oslo. The convulsed by conflict since stipulates "up to" 5,000 pris- ern Helmand Province, also
served as America's first Taliban would release up to the Soviet invasion in De- oners would be released, a Taliban stronghold that
ambassador to Afghani- 1,000 prisoners. cember 1979. Yet it could without referring specifi- has seen heavy violence,
stan after the 2001 U.S. in- Ghani told a news confer- also unravel quickly, par- cally to Ghani's statements. began a three-day soccer
vasion, spent the past 17 ence in the Afghan capital ticularly if the Taliban fail to President Donald Trump tournament to celebrate
months running on-again, of Kabul on Sunday that this deliver on a promise that told reporters Saturday at the signing.q

China uses dairy factory to show it's

getting back to work

By SAM McNEIL
Associated Press
BEIJING (AP) — As milk bot-
tles and yogurt six-packs
zipped past on a convey-
or belt at a state-owned
dairy, reporters heard a
sales pitch from a Commu-
nist Party official: China Inc.
has reopened for business.
The government invited
reporters to a Beijing fac-
tory of China Mengniu
Dairy Co. Ltd. this week to
see how companies are
getting back to work after
unprecedented anti-virus In this Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020, photo, a worker stands near
measures shut down much a picture showing Chinese President Xi Jinping visiting the
of the world's second-big- Mengniu dairy factory in Beijing.
gest economy. Associated Press
It also brought them to see outbreak that has sickened 80% of normal levels and
a power plant. more than 82,000 people production is at 70%, said
The ruling party is striving worldwide and killed more Meng Fanjie, of Mengniu's
to restore public and busi- than 2,800. Mengniu's sales Party Work Department.
ness confidence and avert fell 20% in February due to "Also there is an opportu-
a deeper economic down- travel and other anti-dis- nity brought by the virus
turn and politically risky ease controls, but its sales outbreak," he said. "People
job losses after weeks of of milk, yoghurt and other want to improve immunity
disruptions due to the viral dairy products are back to by eating more dairy."q