Without an official announcement or any publicity, the Obama administration released five members of the Taliban from Gitmo in order to open peace talks in Afghanistan.

Ynetnews.com reports that “a top U.S. official said the prisoners were released under the condition that they will not engage in any violent activity.”

The terror activity of those released is not in question. Rather, their release is intended as a gesture to get peace talks rolling between the U.S., Afghanistan, and the Taliban.

Although this release is a stark departure from the standing U.S. policy of “zero tolerance [of] negotiations with terrorists and releasing of prisoners,” Obama’s State Department has may have found a loophole via their reluctance to define the Taliban as a terror group as of late.

One thing is for certain–the more prisoners Obama can release from Gitmo in a piecemeal fashion the quicker he can justify asking Congress to cut off funding for the prison altogether.

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins