Kabul: The Taliban said the plan of Afghan president to stagger the release of Taliban prisoners violated an accord they struck with the United States and they would not hold talk with the Afghan government until all 5,000 prisoners were freed. The militant group termed it violation of accord they struck with the United States.
A February 29 pact between the Taliban and the United States has cleared the way for the withdrawal of US-led international forces after 18 plus years of war, but peace has to be negotiated between the militants and the US-backed government. Despite the accord between the United States and the Taliban, fighting has continued in various parts of the country. The Taliban have promised to open talks with the government as part of the accord but say the release of their 5,000 comrades held by the government was non- negotiable, and there cannot be moving forward until their all held members are freed.
Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani has declined to release all 5,000 in one go. Instead, he has ordered the release of an initial 1,500, with the other 3,500 to be set free in parallel with progress in the peace talks. The Taliban claims that they never agreed on any conditional release of prisoners. Its spokesperson based in Doha dismissed any such condition. The Taliban has also been calling the stagger release a move against the peace accord that it signed on February 29.
The main element of the US withdrawal agreement is a Taliban promise that they will not let Afghanistan be used by terrorists to attack the United States and its allies. The pact will let US President Donald Trump fulfil his promise to end the war and bring all of the troops home within 14 months.
The release of the prisoners - including some 1,000 government troops held by the militants - is meant to be a confidence-building measure to pave the way for the so-called intra-Afghan talks.
The conflicting positions on the issue between the Taliban and the Ghani government appear to stem from different wording in documents exchanged between the United States and the Taliban on the one hand, and the United States and government on the other.
The Talibans maintained that it is properly explained in the peace accord that first 5,000 prisoners would be freed and then the Afghan dialogue would be initiated. Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special envoy who was the key negotiator in talks with the Taliban, has urged both sides to sit down for talks on the problem.
Taliban leaders have said their leadership council has rejected an Afghan government demand that they issue written guarantees to stop fighting. A senior Afghan government official has said that the government position as set out by Ghani would not change. The government has called it impractical to release all 5,000 at once without a Taliban commitment for direct negotiations and a significant reduction in violence.
