GHANI REJECTS TALIBAN PRISONER RELEASE CLAUSE
KABUL: Afghanistan’s president on Sunday said he will not free thousands of Taliban prisoners ahead of all-Afghan power-sharing talks set for next week. President Ashraf Ghani’s comments pointed to the first hitch in implementing the fragile US-Taliban peace agreement deal, aimed at ending America’s longest war after more than 18 years.
KABUL: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said on Sunday that a seven-day partial truce would continue, but he rejected a key component of a new US-Taliban deal that calls for the release of thousands of insurgent prisoners.
The so-called “reduction in violence” period, which saw attacks plummet across Afghanistan, ran for the week preceding Saturday’s signing of a historic accord between the US and the Taliban in Doha.
The agreement spells out a withdrawal timeline of 14 months for all foreign forces, provided the Taliban honour several pledges and enter talks with Kabul for a more comprehensive peace deal.
“The reduction in violence will continue with a goal to reach a full ceasefire,” Ghani told a press conference.
“General (Scott) Miller has told Taliban to do so. It is expected (to continue),” he added, referring to the US commander in charge of foreign forces in Afghanistan.
But Ghani pushed back against a clause in the deal that calls for the Taliban to release up to 1,000 prisoners and for the Afghan government to release around 5,000 insurgent captives.
Ghani’s government was not part of the Doha accord, so while the agreement states that the “United States commits to completing this goal” of releasing the Taliban prisoners, it is unclear how that can happen if Kabul is not on board.
Any prisoner release is “not in the authority of the US, it is in the authority of the Afghan government”, Ghani said.
“It could be included in the agenda of the intra-Afghan talks, but cannot be a prerequisite for talks.”
The Taliban had, until now, refused to negotiate with Ghani’s administration - which they considered a US puppet regime - but the withdrawal agreement hinges on Kabul and the insurgents reaching a separate peace deal through “intra-Afghan” negotiations.
Meanwhile, Iran dismissed the US-Taliban agreement saying that the US has no legal standing to sign an agreement with the Taliban in Afghanistan.