{"id":644398,"date":"2019-06-04T11:07:48","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T11:07:48","guid":{"rendered":"
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Afghan peace protesters marching through Tal"},"modified":"2019-06-04T11:07:48","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T11:07:48","slug":"taliban-detain-afghan-peace-marchers-supporters-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2019\/06\/04\/taliban-detain-afghan-peace-marchers-supporters-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Taliban detain Afghan peace marchers, supporters say"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Afghan peace protesters marching through Taliban territory have been detained by the insurgents, two supporters of the movement told AFP on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The so-called People\u2019s Peace Movement attracted international attention last year when they walked across Afghanistan and into the capital Kabul in an attempt to reduce the record levels of violence across the country.<\/p>\n

Thousands of civilians have been killed or injured in the past 18 years of fighting between the militant group and US-backed forces.<\/p>\n

About 30 members of the People\u2019s Peace Movement started a new walk on May 27, when they set out from Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province.<\/p>\n

According to Abdul Malik Hamdard, a peace march supporter, the Taliban forced four members of the group to accompany them in vehicles Sunday night as they crossed into Taliban territory in the south of the country.<\/p>\n

Then on Monday, Taliban fighters returned and took the rest of the group, except for a few older members, he added. About 25 marchers were detained in total, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cInitially (the Taliban) told us that \u2018we will talk to them\u2019,\u201d Hamdard told AFP.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had no news from them since then.\u201d<\/p>\n

After refusing to comment about the marchers\u2019 plight for more than 36 hours, the Taliban on Tuesday released photos of four of the group including its leader, Iqbal Khyber, and said the men were safe and would not be harmed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not know for what purpose the Taliban fighters have taken our members,\u201d another supporter, Bacha Khan Muladad, told AFP.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know whether they have been taken hostages or are negotiating with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Muladad added he had been unable to contact any of the members directly because their phones were switched off.<\/p>\n

Bismillah Watandost, the marchers\u2019 spokesman who is now among the detained group, last week told AFP that the group aims to express to the Taliban the pain and suffering of Afghans, and call for a ceasefire over the festival of Eid, which began Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The group had initially planned to march to Mosa Qala, a Taliban\u2019s stronghold some 130 kilometres (80 miles) from Lashkar Gah.<\/p>\n

According to the UN, almost 4,000 civilians \u2014 including more than 900 children \u2014 were killed in Afghanistan last year, with more than 7,000 wounded. It was the deadliest year on record.<\/p>\n

After 18 years of conflict, the Taliban are in negotiations with the US for some sort of peace settlement. But a resolution still seems far off, with the two sides struggling to agree on several key points.<\/p>\n

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