Taliban free 21 more govt prisoners in Takhar

KABUL have released 21 more security personnel in northeastern Takhar province, the movement’s political spokesman said on Monday.

Suhail Shaheen tweeted that as part of the prisoner release process under the US-Taliban agreement, the insurgent group had freed 21 prisoners of the Afghan government.

He said the released prisoners included Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers and policemen and each inmate was provided with 5,000 afghanis in assistance.

The Taliban have freed around 650 government prisoners so far while the Ashraf Ghani administration has released 3,895 militant so far.

On February 29, the Taliban and the US inked a historic peace agreement, providing for the release of 5,000 rebel prisoners and ,000 Afghan security personnel.

pk/mud