New Delhi (NVI): Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani today signed a decree to release 1,500 Taliban prisoners as a move to pave the way to talks between the Taliban and Afghanistan government.
The release of prisoners was a part of a peace deal signed by the United States and the Taliban last month.
“President Ghani has signed the decree that would facilitate the release of the Taliban prisoners in accordance with an accepted framework for the start of negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government,” Ghani’s spokesman Sediq Sediqqi posted on Twitter.
The decree lays out details about how the Taliban prisoners will be released in a systematic manner to further peace deals. The process of releasing the prisoners will begin in four days, the decree said.
The decree also reads that “prisoners will be released based on their age, health status and the remaining jail term”.
The presidential decree also requires all prisoners to give “a written guarantee to not return to the battlefield”.
In exchange, the Taliban has agreed to hand over 1,000 government troops.
According to the decree, all 1,500 prisoners will be released within 15 days, with 100 prisoners walking out of Afghan jails every day.
Talks between the Afghan government and Taliban will take place in parallel with the release. If talks progress, the government has pledged to free 500 more Taliban prisoners every two weeks until a total of 5,000 have been released.
President Ghani had earlier refused to free 5,000 prisoners as part of the US agreement with the Taliban, but Wednesday’s decree signalled a softening of his stance.
On February 29, 2020, the United States and the Taliban had signed a long-awaited peace deal in Qatar that set the beginning of talks for March 10, provided that up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners are released from jail by that time.
The talks were due to start on Tuesday, but negotiations were delayed by demands over the prisoner release.
