President Ghani orders to release final batch of Taliban prisoners

KABUL: Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani has issued an order to release the final batch of Taliban prisoners.

According to reports, Ghani issued the release order of the prisoners demanded by the Taliban as a condition to move to peace talks.

A presidential palace source said on Monday evening, Ghani signed a decree to release the final batch of the prisoners a day after a grand assembly recommended the President release 400 ‘hardcore’ prisoners so that peace talks could begin in Doha.

On the other hand, the spokesman for the Taliban said “Once the inmates are freed they would start peace talks within a week after months of delays since the United States signed a troop withdrawal deal in February”.

On Sunday, Afghanistan’s Grand Assembly (Loya Jirga) had announced its decision to free 400 Taliban prisoners to remove the last hurdle in intra-Afghan peace talks.

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Earlier, an agreement was reached between the United States and the Taliban in which it was agreed that 5,000 Taliban prisoners will be freed before peace talks between the militant group and the Afghan government. The government has so far released 4,600 prisoners.

The Loya Jirga, which was attended by more than 3,000 elders, community leaders and politicians of the country announced that intra-Afghan peace talks should begin without any delay.

READ MORE: Afghan council to decide release of 400 Taliban prisoners

The jirga also decided that the freed inmates should not return to the battlefield while permanent ceasefire should be imposed in the country.