Al-Jazeera correspondent said that the Afghan tribal council "Loya Jirga" had agreed to release 400 Taliban detainees in preparation for the start of government negotiations with the movement in the Qatari capital, Doha.
The head of the Afghan Reconciliation Committee, Abdullah Abdullah, announced that all the detainees are Afghans, and that there are no foreign fighters among them, indicating that negotiations will start three days after their release.
The Taliban movement has insisted on the release of these detainees, while the government has refused to release them due to their commission of what it called serious crimes.
For his part, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement, "We realize that the release of these prisoners is not popular, but this difficult act will lead to a long-awaited important result by Afghans and friends of Afghanistan: reduction of violence, and direct discussions leading to a peace agreement and an end to the war." ".
The US Secretary said that the Taliban committed to entering into talks with government representatives after the release of these prisoners, and indicated the movement’s commitment to reducing violence during these talks, in which the parties will decide on a political roadmap to end the war and agree on a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire.
American forces
In a related context, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that his country will reduce the number of its forces in Afghanistan to less than 5 thousand soldiers by the end of next November.
In an interview with Fox News, the US television network, Esper explained that the reduction in the number of forces will be linked to developments in the field, noting that his country currently has about 8,600 soldiers in Afghanistan, and added that the Pentagon will inform Congress of information about the withdrawal process.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump said - in an interview published by Axios on Monday - that Washington plans to reduce this number to about 4,000.
It is noteworthy that, on February 29, Doha hosted the signing of a historic agreement between the United States and the Taliban that paves the way according to a timetable for a gradual US withdrawal from Afghanistan, and a prisoner exchange between the movement and government forces.
Suicide bombing
On the other hand, the Al-Jazeera correspondent in Afghanistan quoted a security source as saying that seven policemen were killed and 16 others injured in a suicide car bomb explosion targeting a security headquarters for government forces in Ghazni province, in the center of the country last night.
A spokesman for the wilaya, Waheedullah Jum`azadeh, said in a press statement that a bomb was detonated at the center of the province while the security forces were crossing, and that a member of the security forces was killed, and a person was injured in the explosion.