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NSC says working with Taliban team on prisoner lists

NSC says working with Taliban team on prisoner lists

author avatar
4 Jun 2020 - 14:47
NSC says working with Taliban team on prisoner lists
author avatar
4 Jun 2020 - 14:47

KABUL technical team in Kabul on preparing lists of prisoners.

A five-member Taliban delegation arrived in capital Kabul a few days back for assisting the release of their prisoners.

Javed Faisal, NSC spokesman, told Pajhwok Afghan News the Taliban’s delegation was still in Kabul.

He said both the Afghan government and the Taliban delegation have been working over prisoner lists.

The release of Taliban prisoners is part of the deal between the United States and the Taliban signed on ending the war in Afghanistan in Doha on February 29, 2020.

The agreement, coming hard on the heels of a weeklong reduction in violence period across Afghanistan, is a crowning moment in almost two years of Washington-Taliban talks.

The deal will eventually lead to the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan. The number of American forces in the country will be cut to 8,600 from the current 13,000.

The landmark accord paves the ground for the long-elusive intra-Afghan negotiations. The Taliban have so far scorned calls for talking to the government in the presence of international forces in the country.

In line with the agreement, according to the rebel group, 5,000 Taliban prisoners would be freed. The US has suggested a Kabul-Taliban meeting on the issue.

On the other hand, the Afghan government has so far released 2,710 Taliban prisoners but the Taliban say the government has freed 2,280 prisoners.

The Taliban have released 420 prisoners in return for the release of their fighters but the government says Taliban mostly released civilians.

pk/ma

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