Afghanistan To Release Remaining 400 Taliban Prisoners Soon - Security Council

KABUL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th August, 2020) The Afghan government has finished preparations for releasing 400 remaining prisoners, requested by the Taliban in order to begin the intra-Afghan peace talks, Intezar Khadim, the director of peace and civilian protection at the National Security Council, told Sputnik on Tuesday.

On Monday evening, a day after the consultative Loya Jirga's decision, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani signed a decree on the release of the remaining 400 Taliban prisoners, something the government had long been reluctant to do, deeming them too dangerous to be set free.

"All the technical work of the prisoners has been completed. These prisoners will be released soon and we are fulfilling our promise to achieve peace. We have already released the prisoners and we have shown our intention in this regard," Khadim said.

With the last obstacle out of the way, the ball is in the Taliban's court, thinks Ahmad Ali Hazrat, the chairman of Nangarhar Provincial Council.

"The Loya Jirga has decided that it is in the interest of all. Now it is the turn of the Taliban to show goodwill to achieve peace and to delay the war and face-to-face talks and does not make excuses," Hazrat said.

According to Sohail Shaheen, the spokesman for the Taliban's political office in Qatar, the release of the prisoners will pave the way for the talks to begin.

On February 29, the United States and the Taliban movement signed a peace deal in the Qatari capital of Doha, stipulating the beginning of intra-Afghan negotiations, as well as prisoner exchanges. The intra-Afghan settlement, however, has been stalled for months to due to differences between the Taliban and Kabul on the swap conditions.