The Office of National Security Council announced the Afghan government has released all the remaining Taliban prisoners, except a few of them who the international partners objected to releasing.
Javed Faisal, a spokesman for the Office of National Security Council, confirmed in a tweet that all government commandos have been released in line with the Afghan government demands, and in return the government released all the remaining Taliban prisoners except a small number for which international partners have “reservations”.
“Diplomatic efforts [for making decisions over a final Taliban prisoners whose release was objected to by foreign countries] are ongoing,” Mr. Faisal said in a tweet. “We expect direct talks to start promptly,” he added.
The prisoner swap process had long been the one of the main sticking point on the way to start the much-delayed intra-Afghan peace talks.
The Afghan government didn’t want to release the final 400 Taliban prisoners, accusing them for some high-profile crimes.
The remaining 400 Taliban prisoners also included the a few members whose release was objected to by France and Australia for their involvement in attacks on foreign nationals.
Afghanistan will transfer those seven hardcore prisoners to Qatar, officials from the Afghan government and members of the Taliban told Reuters on Thursday. They will be under supervision.
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