The Taliban said it was not concerned ... the Kabul government released a second batch of the movement's prisoners

The Afghan government announced that it will release today the second batch of Taliban fighters detained in its prisons, while the movement said it has stopped negotiating with the government delegation in this regard, and it is not obligated to release.

The spokesman for the Afghan National Security Council, Javed Faisal, said that the release of the Taliban detainees is carried out according to criteria related to the health status of the detainees and the periods of their detention, and the Afghan official confirmed that all of the released Taliban fighters sign a written pledge not to return to the battle fronts.

On the other hand, the Al-Jazeera correspondent in Afghanistan quoted a Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, as saying that the movement suspended the negotiation process of its technical team with the government side yesterday, and that the release of the detainees does not bind it.

Mujahid added that the movement demands the release of the detainees, according to the agreement signed between the Taliban and the United States at the end of February in the Qatari capital, Doha. Among the terms of the Doha agreement is the exchange of 5,000 Taliban prisoners for 1,000 members of the Afghan forces.

Down payment
The Kabul government had released the first batch of Taliban detainees and included 100 prisoners, and the government clarified that there were not 15 leaders who demanded the release of the Taliban. The National Security Council spokesman added that the movement must take serious steps to make this process successful, and not carry out actions that hamper it. In return, the movement said that those released in the first batch were not included in the prisoner exchange.

The talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban regarding the exchange of detainees as a confidence-building measure face a stumbling block, as the movement asked its technical delegation on Tuesday to discuss the exchange of detainees to leave the Afghan capital, Kabul, describing the meetings as sterile.

A spokesman for the movement's political office, Suhail Shaheen, said earlier that the agreement signed with Washington stipulates the release of the detainees in preparation for the start of the Afghan negotiations, considering that the release process was deliberately postponed, which is contrary to the text of the peace agreement.

Because the detainees' exchange talks faltered, the Taliban accused the Afghan government of failing the Doha agreement, and called on Washington to ensure its provisions are implemented. On the other hand, a member of the government negotiating team, Mattin Beck, told reporters last Monday that the prisoner exchange process was delayed because "the Taliban demanded the release of 15 of its leaders," adding, "We cannot release the killers of our people."

Pompeo Comment
And US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo commented on Tuesday that he called on the Kabul government to implement the terms of the agreement so that Washington could in turn fulfill its pledges.

It is noteworthy that the peace agreement concluded between Washington and the Taliban links the withdrawal of the American forces from Afghanistan within 14 months by the movement providing security guarantees not to use Afghan lands to target the interests of America and the interests of its allies, as the American withdrawal is linked to the Taliban entering internal negotiations with the Afghan government to reach a permanent cease-fire And agree on the country's political future.