KABUL – The Afghan National Security Council confirmed on Thursdayafternoon that another 100 prisoners had been released. This follows aninitial release on Wednesday of the first group of 100 prisoners releasedby the Afghan government, TOLO News has reported.
Jawid Faisal, the spokesman for the National Security Council, said:“According to the president’s order, 100 Taliban prisoners were releasedafter they pledged not to return to the battlefield, also considering theirhealth status, age, and the length of their imprisonment, and to fightbetter against coronavirus and to make progress in peace talks, they werereleased.”
On Wednesday, Jawid Faisal said these were part of “efforts for peace andcontainment of COVID-19,” he said.
Following weeks of delays, the Afghan government announced the firstrelease of 100 Taliban prisoners presumably as a step to bring the Afghangovernment and Taliban closer toward intra-Afghan talks.
“The 100 prisoners were on the broader list that the Taliban technical teamshared and discussed during meetings with the technical team of the IslamicRepublic of Afghanistan in Kabul,” said the statement by the Office of theNational Security Council.
This comes after Waheed Omar, a top advisor to President Ghani, on Tuesdaysaid that the release of Taliban prisoners is a time-consuming process andthere is no need to panic.
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He said that the Afghan government remains committed to the prisoner swapwith the Taliban, but in order to make this happen, there is a need forgood intentions from both sides about the issue.
Earlier, a three-member delegation from the Taliban arrived in Kabul todiscuss the issue of the Taliban’s prisoners.
But the Taliban’s spokesman Suhail Shaheen tweeted on Tuesday that the“technical team will not participate in fruitless meetings with relevantsides starting from tomorrow.”
The prisoner release is a step outlined in the US-Taliban deal signed inDoha on February 29 and is intended to be a confidence-building measure topave the way for the intra-Afghan talks.
