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March 10, 2020The Afghan government "will release 1,500 Taliban prisoners as a gesture of goodwill" next Saturday, and "another 3,500 after the start of direct negotiations with the militant group". This was announced by the spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Sediq Sediqqi, referring to one of the key points of the agreement between the Taliban and the US in late February.

Ghani signed the decree for the release and pardon of Islamic fundamentalist prisoners in accordance with "the shared framework for the beginning of negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government". The Afghan government is ready to progressively release 5,000 Taliban detainees in exchange for "significant improvements" in the country's security situation. The release of the prisoners will begin on Saturday and a hundred detainees will be released every day. When negotiations begin, groups of 500 Taliban prisoners will be released in two weeks.

The agreement provides for Washington's commitment to reduce its military presence, currently about 14,000 units, to 8,600 soldiers in the next 135 days, while the Islamic fundamentalist group is committed to ending the attacks and initiating peace talks with the government from Kabul. The start of the talks should be preceded by the exchange of prisoners, some 5,000 Taliban detained in government prisons and a thousand Afghans captured by insurgents.

U.S. military forces have started to withdraw from Afghanistan, as agreed in the Doha agreement. The movements began this morning from the military bases of Lashkar Gah, the capital of the southern province of Helmand, and from another base in the province of Herat, in the east.

According to the Doha agreement, a first reduction from 12,000 to 8,600 will take place by mid-July (within 135 days), a time frame in which 20 bases will be closed. The American withdrawal, after almost 19 years of war, must be completed within 14 months.

The United States obtained a vote by the United Nations Security Council tonight to approve by resolution the peace agreement concluded with the Taliban on February 29, which includes the American military withdrawal from Afghanistan. The UN Security Council unanimously approved the resolution in which it supports the agreement.