US denies plan to release Taliban men

THE White House is denying a plan to release high-ranking Taliban officials held in Guantanamo Bay in exchange for an agreement by the Afghan insurgency to open a political office to begin peace negotiations in Qatar.

The plan was reported by The Guardian on Tuesday, which cited “sources familiar with the talks in the US and Afghanistan,” saying the US would release a “handful of Taliban figures”, including Mullah Khair Khowa, a former interior minister, and Noorullah Noori, a former governor in northern Afghanistan.

In a statement, National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor dismissed The Guardian’s story.