TALIBAN PRISONERS BOARD BUSES TO FREEDOM
▶ Afghan president says he will order the release of 2,000 more militants
The men stood silently in the hot sun, having left behind prison cells – often shared by another 20 inmates – that many called home for years, decades even.
At the Parwan Detention Facility, a prison next to the US’ Bagram Airbase, about an hour’s drive north of Kabul, 525 Taliban prisoners lined up to be released.
Wearing shoes and clothes were shiny and new, they were quickly shoved into buses that would take them to the capital’s bus stations and from there to their home provinces and freedom.
The only string attached: the fighters have promised not return to war.
When the Taliban announced a ceasefire for the Eid Al Fir holidays, the government quickly reciprocated, with President
Ashraf Ghani saying he would order the release of a further 2,000 prisoners immediately. A thousand inmates were released over Eid, with more releases planned.
Over the holiday, violence subsided throughout the country, offering a glimpse of hope after decades of war.
Before the prisoner release, the men sign waivers, pledging not to return to the battlefield.
“We did our best to advise them and prepare them for life after prison, hoping they will keep their word,” said Maj Gen Noorullah Kaderi, the prison’s military police commander. “The rest is up to them.”
According to Nasifullah Totakhail, a member of the Ministry of Defence’s release committee, about 17,000 Taliban prisoners across the country are still in state detention.
The releases, a prerequisite for the start of direct negotiations between the militants and the Afghan government, has been welcomed by the Taliban, who called it “good progress”, but has been criticised by many who fear the freed inmates might take up arms again.
“Of course some of them will rejoin the Taliban. It all depends on people’s mindsets, not on a waiver they are signing,” said Hasifullah Hussain, a 34-year-old who spent the past six years at the detention facility. “The way we were treated here was inhumane and un-Islamic. Many were beaten badly. It’s my wish to see peace for everyone in this country.”
Another fighter, Abdullah Wasi, 27, said after his release he would do “whatever God asks of me”.
He had spent the past eight years in jail, joining the Taliban as a teenager – like most other fighters, according to him.
“The ceasefire is good for all of us, but I am not sure about peace,” he said, pushing his thumb into an ink pad, fingerprinting the last few documents before his freedom. “Of course we need peace, but how will all sides come together?”
Wasi is not alone in his scepticism. “The peace agreement with the US emboldened the Taliban to sustain their violent campaign to seek total victory over the Afghan security forces,” said Fawzia Koofi, one of the few women who are part of the government’s negotiation team with the militants.
Yet the ceasefire was necessary to prevent an already-vulnerable peace process from falling apart.
“May 12 was a critical date,” said the International Crisis Group’s Andrew Watkins, referring to the attack on a Kabul maternity ward. “No matter which militant group carried out the attack, popular anger evaporated what little atmosphere for talking with the Taliban remained in Kabul.”
Eid Al Fitr was quiet, with most families staying inside.
“We needed this quiet time,” said teacher Marwa Faizi, 26. “The violence has been crushing. Every Afghan – every woman and every man and every child want peace. The war is weighing heavy. We want to breathe freely.”
‘Of course some of them will rejoin the Taliban. It all depends on people’s mindsets, not on a waiver they are signing’