April 22 (The Killid Group) — The Afghan government released additional 71 Taliban prisoners it was holding despite the insurgent group continues its attacks in the country.
A spokesman for the Afghan National Security Council (NSC), Javid Faisal, said in a tweet that at President Ghani’s decree, the Afghan government made a decision to release an additional number of Taliban prisoners based on their health condition, age and amount of their sentence still remaining and as part of the government’s efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
The Taliban inmates from seven provinces, namely, Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunar, Nuristan, Faryab, Uruzgan and Baghlan provinces were released.
“Pursuant to Pres. @ashrafghan’s decree, 71 Taliban prisoners from 7 provinces (Ningarhar, Laghman, Kunar, Nuristan, Faryab, Uruzgan, Baghlan) were released today based on their age, health and length of remaining sentence as part of our efforts toward peace and battling COVID-19,” Javid Faisal took to Twitter yesterday.
Earlier, the Afghan government freed 361 Taliban prisoners under a peace accord signed between the United States and the militant group, and the Taliban also freed Afghan prisoners it was holding.
The Taliban have continued attacks despite the peace deal, including a number of assaults on government checkpoints this week that saw at least 23 Afghan troops along with police officers and civilians killed in three different provinces.
Under the accord, the United States and the Taliban are committed to work expeditiously to release combat and political prisoners as a confidence-building measure, with the coordination and approval of all relevant sides.
The agreement calls for the release of up to 5,000 jailed Taliban prisoners who were set to be released in exchange for up to 1,000 Afghan government captives by March 10, but the process was delayed due to several reasons.
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