The Afghan presidency announced today, Sunday, President Ashraf Ghani, the release of about two thousand Taliban prisoners, after the movement announced a three-day truce that the government met with a similar truce.
The local newspaper, Talaou News, quoted Presidential spokesman Siddiq Siddiqui as saying that President Ghani had started releasing two thousand Taliban prisoners as a goodwill gesture in response to the Taliban's announcement of a ceasefire during the days of Eid Al-Fitr.
The announcement came after President Ghani said in a message to the nation on the occasion of Eid, "As a responsible government we are taking an additional step forward, I announce that I will accelerate the process of releasing Taliban prisoners." He called on the movement to continue to release Afghan security forces officials held in its custody.
And Saturday, the Taliban announced a three-day ceasefire on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, starting from Sunday, throughout the country.
Ghani, in turn, welcomed the Taliban's announcement of the armistice, announcing a similar ceasefire, and wrote on his Twitter account that, as commander-in-chief of the Afghan armed forces, he issued a ceasefire order.
The US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad welcomed the cease-fire, saying it was an "opportunity not to be missed." The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres also welcomed the truce, and urged, in a statement, all concerned to seize this opportunity.
The prisoner exchanges are stipulated in an agreement between Washington and the Taliban that was signed on February 29 in the Qatari capital, Doha, but Kabul has not ratified it.
The wide exchange of prisoners (five thousand Taliban fighters in exchange for a thousand Afghan forces) was supposed to end on March 10, but it encountered obstacles. Kabul released about a thousand prisoners, at a time when the movement released about 300 prisoners.
The next stage of the peace process is the launching of negotiations between the parties to the conflict in Afghanistan that should have started more than two months ago.
"Now, we want to have direct talks with the Taliban as soon as possible in order to stop the massacres of Afghans, and we are very ready for these negotiations," Ghani said on Sunday.