So far, the U.S. officials have not gone public with the details of a possible prisoner exchange; in fact Washington has been quite reluctant to speak on its involvement in opening of Taliban’s Qatar office. Afghan Talibans don’t have any such reservations to speak. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told The Washington Times this week that they were ‘ready to exchange prisoners with the United States’ and added that they were  ‘optimistic’ about engaging in peace talks after they opens their office in Qatar.

‘Definitely both sides will exchange its prisoners as soon as the deal is done’, he told the daily, adding that Americans have been dealing with Taliban diplomats and Qatari lobbyists. They have zeroed in on Qatar for the Taliban office since its government previously had recognized it and “financially and logistically supported our soldiers.” is Pakistan government also lent its support to the plan.

Reports from Kabul speak of disquiet over the Qatar developments. U.S. officials insist that any peace talks will be Afghan-led. But direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban halted last fall after the Taliban assassinated the head of the Afghan peace council.

While peace is to be restored, and for peace negotiations with the Taliban, its handlers in Rawalpindi are essential, overwhelming view in Kabul is that measured steps should be taken and the process should not be guided by excessive exuberance.  This is what experts like Bruce Riedel have been cautioning Washington. “The U.S. must go into this process with a healthy degree of skepticism … and not [be] under any illusion that the Taliban will be easy to negotiate with.”