The Afghan government, according to a Taliban official quoted by AFP, has released as many as 200 Taliban prisoners out of the final 320 prisoners within the last two days, and in return, the group also freed four commandos of the government.
Two more commandos would be freed on Wednesday, according to the Taliban official.
The process of prisoner releases has been resumed after several weeks of delay and is a final obstacle to be removed to pave the way for the start of direct talks. The intra-Afghan negotiations are set to begin next week, according to sources.
“The remaining prisoners will be released within a couple of days,” an Afghan government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the political office of the Taliban in Qatar also confirmed some of their prisoners have been released by the Afghan government, calling it a “positive step” in paving the path for intra-Afghan talks.
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