BBC News Online: World: South Asia

Afghan prisoner exchange expected

The warring sides in Afghanistan are reported to have agreed to a full exchange of prisoners, as a gesture during peace talks taking place in Saudi Arabia.

The man heading the talks -- an Iranian deputy Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif -- said the exchange would begin as soon as the Red Cross could arrange it.

The Taleban authorities and their opponents in the northern alliance are thought to be holding several thousand prisoners.

A BBC correspondent says that despite this move, the peace talks have failed to produce any breakthrough in the search for a political settlement of the Afghan conflict.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service