The French press reported that the Afghan government has postponed the start of a gradual release of five thousand Taliban prisoners, which was included in the peace agreement signed in Doha in late February. The release was expected to begin on Saturday.
Afghan National Security spokesman Jawad Faisal told the French Press Agency that the government has received lists of prisoners who will be released, and it is now about to verify them, which will take time that may delay future negotiations between the two parties. He also stressed that the government wanted guarantees that those released would not return to fight.
The Taliban had previously rejected any conditional release of prisoners with the Kabul authorities, as the movement’s spokesperson Suhail Shaheen had said in a statement that the movement had handed over a list of its prisoners to American officials, and that it would only accept the release of the prisoners listed in the list and not others, without mentioning more More details.
Doha Agreement
The peace agreement between the United States and the Taliban stipulated that 5,000 Taliban prisoners be freed, compared to 1,000 Afghan forces held by the movement by March 10, although the Afghan government did not sign the Doha agreement.
In the context of a "goodwill gesture," Afghan President Ashraf Ghani proposed the release of 1,500 Taliban prisoners, at a rate of 100 prisoners per day, with the aim of starting negotiations with the Taliban.
The dialogue between the Kabul government and the Taliban was supposed to start last Tuesday, but it was postponed in practice because no agreement was reached between the two parties on the issue of prisoners.