Afghan govt to release 100 Taliban prisoners

KABUL: Afghan government has decided to release 100 Taliban inmates under the peace deal.

A day earlier, the Taliban’s spokesman said they were walking out of talks with Kabul regarding the release of prisoners. He said the Taliban will also release 20 Afghan security member in exchange for its 100 jailed militants.

An Afghan official said on Wednesday  that the two parties have been negotiating in Kabul since last week in attempt to settle a prisoner exchange that was originally believed to have happened by 10 March.

The official further said this development would pave the way for intra-Afghan peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban.

However, the official added the exchange between two parties have been overwhelmed with severe issues, with Kabul claiming the Taliban want 15 top commanders to be released, while the rebels have accused Afghan officials of unnecessarily wasting time.

The spokesman for Afghanistan´s Office of the National Security Council said 100 Taliban inmates will be freed today, adding that the 15 commanders were not among those being released.

The United States signed an arrangement with the Taliban earlier on February that required the Afghan government– which was not a signatory to the deal to free 5,000 Taliban inmates and for the Taliban to set free 1,000 pro-government fighters imprisoned in return.