The Afghan government will gradually release 5,000 Talibanprisoners starting this week if the insurgents significantly reduce violence,President Ashraf Ghani’s spokesman said early Wednesday, seeking to resolve adispute that has delayed peace talks between the militants and Kabul.
The announcement came hours after the US said its forces hadstarted pulling out of two bases in Afghanistan, in line with a deal signedbetween Washington and the Taliban in Doha last month aiming to end America’slongest war.
The government will “release 1,500 Taliban prisoners asa gesture of goodwill” starting Saturday, with another 3,500 to be freedafter negotiations begin, spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter.
The agreement, which will initially see 100 prisoners freedeach day, will depend on the Taliban’s willingness to significantly limitattacks in the country, he added.
The decision attempts to resolve one of the long-runningspats that has stymied potential peace talks between the insurgents and theAfghan government.
Although the Taliban were due to start talks with Kabul onTuesday, negotiations were delayed because the insurgents’ demanded as aprerequisite the prisoner release in exchange for 1,000 captives.
Ghani had refused but Wednesday’s decree signalled asoftening of his stance, with the proviso that none of the released prisonerswould return to the frontlines.
According to the decree, after the first 1,500 captives arefreed, a further “500 Taliban prisoners will be released every twoweeks” once negotiations begin.
US negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad welcomed the announcement andurged the Afghan government and the Taliban to meet “immediately” inQatar to sort out prisoner details.
The State Department voiced confidence that Afghan peacetalks would open soon, saying Ghani was speaking to rivals and would name anegotiating team “in the coming few days.”
The UN Security Council on Tuesday endorsed the US-Talibandeal, a rare step for an agreement involving insurgents.
The Council urged the Afghan government “to advance thepeace process, including by participating in intra-Afghan negotiations”.
Under the US-Taliban deal, foreign forces will quitAfghanistan within 14 months, subject to Taliban security guarantees and theinsurgents holding talks with Kabul.
The US is initially supposed to cut its troop presence fromabout 12,000 currently to 8,600 by mid-July, and close five of its roughly 20bases across the country.
Troops have started leaving one base in Lashkar Gah, thecapital of Helmand province in the south, and another base in Herat in thewest, a US official told AFP on the condition of anonymity.
Helmand is where US and British forces fought some of thebloodiest campaigns of the 18-year war.
The initial drawdown comes as the Taliban, which seethemselves as having achieved “victory” over America, test thePentagon’s resolve to protect local partners by conducting dozens of low-levelattacks against Afghan forces.
The US has only responded to a few of these attacks, but theState Department warned Tuesday that the level of violence was”unacceptable.” In the previous 24 hours, the insurgents carried outattacks in 32 out of 34 of the country’s provinces, killing seven peopleincluding two civilians, interior ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi told AFP.
The Taliban have ramped up attacks since halting a week-longpartial truce in place until the signing of the Doha accord, ending a welcomereprieve for ordinary Afghans who have born the brunt of the deadly violence.
Under the US-Taliban deal, the militants are to preventgroups including Al-Qaeda from using Afghanistan as a base to threaten thesecurity of the US and its allies.
In congressional testimony on Tuesday, a top US general,Kenneth McKenzie, said the Islamist extremist Taliban have been “veryeffective” against the Islamic State group in Nangarhar province over thelast few months.
“There was very limited support from us,” he said,without elaborating.
There was no immediate reaction from the insurgents toGhani’s decree on the prisoners, which followed a deepening political crisis inKabul.
Ghani’s rival Abdullah Abdullah also declared himselfpresident and held a simultaneous swearing-in ceremony on Monday, minutes afterGhani took the oath for his second term.
A member of the Taliban’s leadership council — the QuettaShura — told AFP on Tuesday the insurgents had delivered a list of the 5,000captives they wanted freed to the Afghan government.
But he accused Kabul of acting in bad faith, alleging that”the government (planned) to release only those prisoners who are elderly,very ill, or those whose sentences have expired”.
Kabul did not respond to the allegations, but Ghani’s decreeon Wednesday said that “prisoners will be released based on their age,health status and the remaining jail term”.