Kabul releases 86 Taliban; talks may begin on Aug.20
Ghani announces new council to safeguard women’s rights and interests; policeman injured as small bomb hidden in a motorcycle explodes near a mosque in Kabul
Afghanistan has released the first 80 of a final 400 Taliban prisoners, paving the way for negotiations between the warring sides in Afghanistan’s protracted conflict, the government said on Friday.
Javid Faisal, spokesman for the Afghan National Security Council, made the announcement. Taliban officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 86 prisoners were freed.
It wasn’t immediately known when the remaining prisoners would be released.
Prisoner releases on both sides are part of an agreement signed in February between the U. and the Taliban. It calls for the release of 5,000 Taliban held by the government and 1,000 government and military personnel held by the insurgent group as a good will gesture ahead of intra-afghan negotiations.
Talks are expected to be held in Qatar where the Taliban maintain a political office. Several Afghan leaders said talks could begin by Aug.20.
The negotiations are to lay out a framework for a post-war Afghanistan.
Washington’s peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad spent a year and a half negotiating the peace deal aimed at allowing American troops to return home and end America’s longest military engagement.
During a televised talk on Thursday with the Us-based Council on Foreign Relations, President Ashraf Ghani warned of dangers they could present to lasting peace in Afghanistan.
Also on Friday, a small bomb hidden in a motorcycle exploded near a mosque in Kabul just as worshipers were finishing their prayers, wounding a police officer. No one immediately took responsibility but the Daesh group has in the past targeted mosques in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, the Afghan Defense Ministry said it is investigating a video circulating on social media purporting to show Afghan army personnel mutilating Taliban corpses.
The United Nations Mission in Afghanistan, known as UNAMA, tweeted that the footage “is deeply shocking investigation needs to be swit and open. If crimes are proven the criminals must be identified and held responsible.”
The Afghan government has announced a new council to safeguard women’s rights and interests, amid fears peace talks with the Taliban could lead to the loss of hard-won gains.
Ghani said the council, announced late on Thursday, would “empower women,” promote their rights at home and implement Afghanistan’s international commitments on women’s rights.
The move came a day ater a coalition of women’s rights activists wrote to Ghani demanding a place in the historic talks with the Islamist militant group that once banished women from public life.
“We will not allow our place and contribution towards rebuilding our country to be erased or reversed,” they said.
Lawmaker Fawzia Koofi, a vocal critic of the Taliban who has been involved in the peace process, said the council would help drive gender equality.
“In countries where gender disparities are huge due to many reasons, such steps can definitely change the status quo,” she said.
The president said the council would comprise representatives from at least 26 non-government and government bodies, including female deputy governors from various provinces.
But it was not clear what, if any, formal powers the council would have and Arezo Aasenat, a Kabul-based women’s rights activist, cautioned against puting too much faith in it.
“It is yet to be seen if this council can safeguard women’s rights in the face of the Taliban, who seem determined to roll back the gains of the past few years and force women and girls to stay home,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“Members of this council must ensure the extremists do not sideline women in Afghanistan.”
US troops have already begun leaving and by November less than 5,000 troops are expected to still be in Afghanistan down from nearly 13,000 when the agreement was signed Feb. 29.
American and Nato troop withdrawal is contingent on the Taliban keeping their commitment not to allow militant groups to use Afghanistan against the United States or its allies. The withdrawal is not tied to successful talks between the warring sides.