After the agreement of America and the Taliban .. Afghan President: There is no obligation to release the prisoners of the movement

The Afghan President, Ashraf Ghani, considered that there is no commitment from the Afghan government to release five thousand Taliban prisoners, according to the agreement signed between the United States and the movement yesterday in the Qatari capital, Doha.

The agreement stipulated the release of up to five thousand Taliban prisoners, compared to up to a thousand prisoners from the Afghan government by next March 10.

The Afghan president said - during a press conference in the capital, Kabul - that he has repeatedly clarified this issue (the release of prisoners) to the American envoy to the peace process, Zalmay Khalilzad, and told him that the matter is negotiable, but that cannot be a precondition, as he put it.

He added that the United States does not have the authority to release Taliban prisoners.

He also confirmed the start of discussions on the names of the Afghan negotiating team with the Taliban, and expressed confidence in his formation during the next nine days.

On the other hand, Sher Muhammad Stank-Z, head of the Taliban team in negotiations with the United States, said that the Afghan-Afghan negotiations will start on the tenth of this month, provided that five thousand Taliban detainees are released.

He assured Al-Jazeera that the release of the first group of detainees from the movement to the Afghan government will begin on Sunday.

The most important items
In addition to the release of about five thousand Taliban prisoners, the agreement stipulated that the United States will initially reduce its forces from five bases in Afghanistan to 8,600 soldiers within 135 days, and then withdraw all foreign forces within 14 months.

Washington will also lift all sanctions imposed on the Taliban by August 27.

On the other hand, the Taliban is obligated to cut ties with all the movements that the United States classifies as terrorist organizations, and that the Taliban do not use Afghan territory to target others.

Responses
Yesterday evening, US President Donald Trump praised the agreement, stressing that he would meet Taliban leaders soon.

The Qatari Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, also considered - during the signing ceremony - that the agreement was a first step for establishing a comprehensive peace in Afghanistan, noting that his country was aware of the futility of any military solution to the crisis. In preparation for a comprehensive peace agreement.

"We have reached a series of understandings and we are confident that the Afghan government and the Taliban are aware of the importance of adhering to them," said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the signing ceremony. "This is a historic moment and we would like to make sure that there will be no future terrorist attacks from Afghanistan."

As for Mullah Abdul Ghani Pradar, the Taliban's deputy leader for political affairs, he said that the Taliban had entered the stage of political action and had opened a new page with the international community and pledged to implement all the provisions of the agreement, which he described as a "historic achievement."

While the Iranian Foreign Ministry announced that Washington is not in the position to conclude agreements with the Taliban and take decisions regarding the future of Afghanistan, but said that Tehran welcomes any initiative that might lead to peace and stability in Afghanistan under the leadership of Afghans.

It is noteworthy that officials from 18 countries participated in the signing ceremony, most notably the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Pakistani counterparts, Shah Mahmoud Qureshi and the Turkish Mawloud Javishoglu, in addition to the participation of four international organizations.

The Kabul government was not represented at the signing ceremony in Doha, but it sent a team of six people to open a communication channel with the Taliban political office that was established in the Qatari capital in 2013.