Afghanistan: Taliban to release 20 prisoners held in Kandahar

Text by: RFI Follow

In Afghanistan, the Taliban announce that they are going to release 20 Afghan administration employees whom they detain in their jails. The announcement comes after that of the Kabul government over the release of a third wave of Taliban prisoners. The insurgents had broken off dialogue with the Afghan authorities six days ago on the subject of Taliban prisoners.

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In Islamabad, our regional correspondent , Sonia Ghezali

The 20 prisoners will be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross teams in the southern city of Kandahar. The Taliban political office spokesman in Doha, Qatar writes on Twitter. Earlier today, Afghan authorities announced the release of 100 Taliban prisoners. Another 200 were released during the week.

The climate therefore seems to be subsiding between the two parties, neither of them suggests a resumption of the discussions. The Taliban, who were holding talks with the Afghan authorities in Kabul on the release of the prisoners, had ended the talks overnight Monday to Tuesday April 7. They believed that the gradual release of the prisoners was unacceptable, while Kabul continued to demand an end to the violence. The Taliban are sticking to their position: that is, no ceasefire or intra-Afghan dialogue until 5,000 of their fighters, detained in government prisons, are released.

These intra-Afghan talks were due to start on March 10, a few weeks after the signing of the Doha agreement between the Americans and the Taliban , providing for the gradual withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan.

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• Afghanistan
• Taliban