After the Afghanistan government responded positively to the Taliban's pronouncement of a cease-fire for three days in celebration of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, the country's president Ashraf Ghani has begun the process of releasing Taliban prisoners as a gesture of goodwill.
On Sunday, in a tweet by Sediq Sediqqi, spokesperson for President Ghani, he wrote that the decision of releasing up to 2,000 prisoners was made by the president in order to make sure that the peace process is successful.
Pres. Ghani today initiated a process to release up to 2000 Taliban prisoners as a good will gesture in response to the Taliban’s announcement of a ceasefire during Eid.The AFG Gov is extending the offer of peace and is taking further steps to ensure success of the peace process. pic.twitter.com/So0UEB5Bpi — Sediq Sediqqi (@SediqSediqqi) May 24, 2020
Meanwhile, both parties seemed to have held up their part on the three-day truce since there were no clashes between the Afghan forces and the Taliban reported until the end of the Sunday.
Moreover, Aljazeera reported that according to Ghani there is already a government delegation which is prepared for the peace talks with the Taliban to immediately begin. It was also stated that Abdullah Abdullah, the former political rival of Ghani is going to spearhead the negotiations. This follows after Ghani and Abdullah brokered a deal to power-share last week, which also ended the long going political crisis in the country.
An agreement signed in Doha, Qatar back in February between the US and the Taliban stated that the government of Afghanistan would free at least 5,000 Taliban prisoners and in return the other party would release around a thousand security forces personnel who were captured.
According to BBC, the prisoner swap was initially stated in the agreement as a measure to build confidence between the two opposing forces before the peace talks commenced.
Before the announcement of the release on Sunday, there have already been around 1,000 Taliban prisoners that were set free while around 300 Afghan forces have been released by the Taliban.
Taliban Reminds that release of 5,000 prisoners was agreed on
In a report by NPR, the Taliban stated that they are very committed to holding up their end of the bargain but they also reminded that during the Doha signing, the government agreed to release 5,000 of their members.
According to Taliban spokesperson, Suhail Shaheen, in order for the intra-Afghan negotiations to commence without any obstacles the agreed-upon number should be completed.
In a statement by Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Special Representative to Afghanistan who was the one to broker the agreement between the two parties back in February, the ceasefire was a very momentous thing that happened between the opposing forces. He also added that the US will do its part in aiding both forces.
Moreover, Mike Pompeo, the United States secretary of state also commended both the Afghan forces and the Taliban for making good on their call for a ceasefire. However, he stressed that the Taliban is expected to hold up their end of the agreement which clearly stated that the released prisoners will not be allowed to go back on the battlefield.
In addition, he also encouraged both sides to avoid any violence after their ceasefire ends at the end of the Eid al-Fitr festival which marks the end of Ramadan or the fasting month of the Muslims.
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