KABUL: Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani said Sunday that a seven-daypartial truce would continue, but he rejected a key component of a newUS-Taliban deal that calls for the release of thousands of insurgentprisoners.
The so-called “reduction in violence” period ran for the week preceding thesigning of a historic accord between the US and the Taliban in Doha onSaturday.
The agreement spells out a withdrawal timeline of 14 months for all foreignforces, provided the Taliban honour several pledges and enter talks withKabul for a more comprehensive peace deal.
“The reduction in violence will continue with a goal to reach a fullceasefire,” Ghani told a press conference.
“General (Scott) Miller has told Taliban to do so. It is expected (tocontinue),” he added, referring to the US commander in charge of foreignforces in Afghanistan.
But, in a sign of a bumpy road ahead, Ghani pushed back against a clause inthe deal that calls for the Taliban to release up to 1,000 prisoners andfor the Afghan government to release up to 5,000 prisoners.
“There is no commitment to releasing 5,000 prisoners,” Ghani said.
“This is the right and the self-will of the people of Afghanistan. It couldbe included in the agenda of the intra-Afghan talks, but cannot be aprerequisite for talks.”
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He added that any prisoner release was “not in the authority of the US, itis in the authority of the Afghan government.”
The president, who is mired in a political crisis following fraudallegations in his re-election, was referring to upcoming talks between theTaliban and the Afghan government that were agreed to as part of the deal.
The Taliban had until now refused to negotiate with Ghani’s administration,which they considered a US puppet regime, but the withdrawal agreementhinges on Kabul and the insurgents reaching a separate peace deal through”intra-Afghan” negotiations.
Ghani’s questioning of the prisoner release points to tough negotiationsahead in a country where leaders seem incapable of coalescing aroundimportant issues.
Washington has pointedly not yet acknowledged Ghani’s win, announced lastweek after months of delays. -APP/AFP
