Afghan president vows to speed up release of Taleban prisoners

kabul — Afghan President Ashraf Ghani vowed on Sunday to speed up the release of Taleban prisoners, and said he was ready to hold peace talks with the insurgents after accepting their surprise offer of a ceasefire.

The Taleban proposed a threeday truce over the Eid Al Fitr holiday that marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which Ghani swiftly agreed to.

“As a responsible government we take one more step forward — I announce that I will expedite the Taleban prisoner releases,” Ghani said in an address to the nation marking the holiday.

A US-Taleban deal signed in February stipulated that the Afghan government would release up to 5,000 Taleban prisoners while the insurgents would free about 1,000 Afghan security force personnel.

The prisoner swap is seen as a confidence-building move ahead of long-awaited talks between the government and Taleban.

Kabul has so far released about 1,000 Taleban inmates while the insurgents have freed about 300 Afghan security force personnel.

Ghani said a government delegation was “ready to immediately start the peace talks” with the insurgents. Government negotiators would be headed by Ghani’s former bitter rival Abdullah Abdullah after the two signed a power-sharing deal last week that ended a months-long political crisis. —

As a responsible government we take one more step forward — I announce that I will expedite the Taleban prisoner releases Ashraf Ghani, Afghan President