Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says at least 100 Taliban prisoners will be released on Wednesday
Kabul … News Time
The Afghan government will release a few Taliban prisoners this week to regain confidence so that a peace deal between the United States and the Taliban to end a two-decade war will be successful. According to a newspaper report, a 3-member Taliban team arrived in Kabul and met with Afghan officials to discuss the exchange of prisoners despite a nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the move after meeting with Taliban and Afghan officials in Qatar a week ago to move forward in the peace process.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said at least 100 Taliban prisoners would be released on Wednesday, the first step in the transfer of 6,000 prisoners between the Afghan government and the Taliban. He said that 100 prisoners would be released in the first phase and then both sides would see if it would be OK to release 100 prisoners in one day. Zabihullah Mujahid said the technical issues of release and medical check-up of the prisoners were under discussion, while the lockdown due to coronavirus increased the challenge. The Taliban are arranging transport to ensure that their families are welcomed by the Afghan prisoners who are released from prison.
“The exchange of prisoners is being discussed face-to-face,” Javed Faisal, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s National Security Council, said in a tweet. Negotiations on the release of Taliban prisoners, including Afghan National Defense and Security Force personnel from both sides, were under way, the NSC said. This is the first time that the Taliban has been invited to Kabul for a direct meeting with the government after the US intervention in 2001 ended their government. Zabihullah Mujahid said the technical team is working to exchange prisoners in Kabul and not for additional talks. He said that only those prisoners whose names are on the list should be released, which is why our technical team has gone there, this is not negotiation and there will be no politics.
