The talks stalled over the ‘prisoner swap’ clause that was part of the agreement. But the Ashraf Ghani government in Kabul, which was not party to it, had serious reservations about its efficacy when told about it later. Ghani refused to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners in Kabul’s custody under the terms of the US deal, saying the Afghan government had made no such agreement. Instead, he offered the conditional release of 1,500 prisoners. The differences over the swap—which would have led to 1,000 pro-government forces released by the Taliban in exchange—delayed the talks that were to be held between March 10 and to April 1. Those proposed talks now lie in ruins. The writing, however, was on the wall. Clearly disappointed at the outcome of the first face-to-face discussions with the Afghan government, a Taliban spokesman had earlier described the talks as “fruitless”.