Afghan government to free Taleban prisoners
KABUL: The Afghan government will gradually release 5,000 Taleban prisoners starting this week if the insurgents significantly reduce violence, President Ashraf Ghani’s spokesman said yesterday, seeking to resolve a dispute that has delayed peace talks between the militants and Kabul. The announcement came hours after the US said its forces had started pulling out of two bases in Afghanistan, in line with a deal signed between Washington and the Taleban in Doha last month aiming to end America’s longest war.
The government will “release 1,500 Taleban prisoners as a gesture of goodwill” starting Saturday, with another 3,500 to be freed after negotiations begin, spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said on Twitter. The agreement, which will initially see 100 prisoners freed each day, will depend on the Taleban’s willingness to significantly limit attacks in the country, he added.
The decision attempts to resolve one of the long-running spats that has stymied potential peace talks between the insurgents and the Afghan government. Although the Taleban were due to start talks with Kabul on Tuesday, negotiations were delayed because the insurgents’ demanded as a prerequisite the prisoner release in exchange for 1,000 captives. Ghani had refused but yesterday’s decree signaled a softening of his stance, with the proviso that none of the released prisoners would return to the frontlines.
According to the decree, after the first 1,500 captives are freed, a further “500 Taleban prisoners will be released every two weeks” once negotiations begin. US negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad welcomed the announcement and urged the Afghan government and the Taleban to meet “immediately” in Qatar to sort out prisoner details. The State Department voiced confidence that Afghan peace talks would open soon, saying Ghani was speaking to rivals and would name a negotiating team “in the coming few days.”
UN backs deal
The UN Security Council on Tuesday endorsed the US-Taleban deal, a rare step for an agreement involving insurgents. The Council urged the Afghan government “to advance the peace process, including by participating in intra-Afghan negotiations”. Under the US-Taleban deal, foreign forces will quit Afghanistan within 14 months, subject to Taleban security guarantees and the insurgents holding talks with Kabul.
The US is initially supposed to cut its troop presence from about 12,000 currently to 8,600 by mid-July, and close five of its roughly 20 bases across the country. Troops have started leaving one base in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province in the south, and another base in Herat in the west, a US official said on the condition of anonymity. Helmand is where US and British forces fought some of the bloodiest campaigns of the 18-year war.
The initial drawdown comes as the Taleban, which see themselves as having achieved “victory” over America, test the Pentagon’s resolve to protect local partners by conducting dozens of low-level attacks against Afghan forces. The US has only responded to a few of these attacks, but the State Department warned Tuesday that the level of violence was “unacceptable.” —AFP