March 12 (The Killid Group) – The Taliban rejected the Afghan government’s attempt over the release of the group prisoners Wednesday.
Late on Tuesday night President Ashraf Ghani issued a decree to release 1,500 Taliban prisoners as a “gesture of goodwill” before the start of the intra-Afghan talks.
The spokesman for the office of the Taliban in Qatar, Suhail Shaheen, however, told the AFP that “5,000 prisoners should be released as a trust-building measure, and … this should be before the intra-Afghan talks.”
Any changes amounted to “a violation” of the deal signed between the group and the United States in Doha last month, he added.
Under the U.S.-Taliban peace deal, up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners held by Afghan authorities “will be” released before talks, which was refused by the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani few weeks ago.
President Ghani said in a press conference in response to The Killid Radio’s reporter, has no commitment to releasing 5,000 Taliban prisoners, nor there is a prerequisite for it.
Later, under President Ghani’s decree on Tuesday, the government would release 1,500 captives starting Saturday, but only if the insurgents reduce violence – with plans to free another 3,500 prisoners after negotiations begin.
It was an attempt that the Taliban rejected, saying that the “conditional release” of the Taliban prisoners is against the accord signed with the US.
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