DOHA: Afghan government negotiators will fly to Doha on Thursday to prepare for long-delayed peace talks with the Taliban, as Kabul’s administration resumed releasing Taliban prisoners, Reuters reported.
“Tomorrow the team is leaving for Doha,” Fraidoon Khawzoon, the spokesman for Abdullah Abdullah, who is the head of the High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR), which has been tasked to hold talks with the armed group, said.
Earlier in the day, a spokeswoman for the State Ministry for Peace said a “small technical team” has been sent for Doha to prepare to start the peace talks. “They are there for logistical preparations,” Najia Anwari said.
The Taliban had demanded the release of a final group of 320 prisoners before they would participate in the talks, which was part an agreement signed between the group and the US in February.
Kabul had hesitated to release the final 400 Taliban inmates who President Ashraf Ghani said were “a danger to the world”. Some Western governments, including France, had also objected to the release of Taliban inmates.
But the government has this week set free another 200, leaving 120 remaining of a total 5,000 Taliban inmates that it was expected to release to kick off the talks aimed at reaching lasting peace after nearly 20 years of war.
Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesman, said that the “release of our remaining prisoners has started and it is a positive step which will pave the ground for the start of intra-Afghan negotiations”.
HCNR officials also confirmed the release of inmates, which concludes the protracted prisoner exchange process. “All obstacles have been removed,” an HCNR official said.
The Afghan armed group was asked to free 1,000 government forces as part of the prisoner swap.