400 ‘hard-core’ Taliban detainees released ahead of Afghan peace talks

Afghanistan will release 400 “hard-core” Taliban prisoners to start peace talks between the government and the militant group, Reuters reported.

Members of the Loya Jirga Assembly in Afghanistan on Sunday approved the release, which the Taliban demanded before entering into talks.

“To remove an obstacle, allow the beginning of the peace process and an end to bloodshed, the Loya Jirga approves the release of 400 Taliban,” the meeting said in a resolution, according to Reuters.

“Today I will sign the release order for these 400 prisoners,” President Ashraf Ghani said shortly after the resolution.

Ghani met last week with more than 3,000 regional Afghan leaders in Kabul to discuss possible releases, both security and precautionary measures against the coronavirus pandemic, the news service confirmed

Talks will begin in Doha this week after the militant group spent years refusing to sit with Afghan government officials. Ghani has asked Taliban officials to agree to a full-scale ceasefire prior to the negotiations.

The new releases will bring the total number of Taliban released by the Afghan government to 5,000.

Trump administration and Taliban officials have previously agreed to the release of prisoners in a February agreement allowing U.S. troops to withdraw.

Human Rights Watch has meanwhile warned that a number of prisoners could be detained because of “too broad terrorism laws that provide indefinite preventive detention,” according to Reuters.

The country saw more than 10,000 civilian deaths as injuries last year, for a total of 100,000 casualties over the entire decade. Among the prisoners who will be released, some are suspected in some of the deadliest attacks during that period.

Secretary of Defense Mark EsperMark EsperPentagon sends 3 cargo planes to Lebanon full of help as questions about explosion remain Overnight Defense: Esper says ‘most believe’ Beirut explosion was accident, opposite Trump | Trump later says ‘nobody knows yet’ what happened in Lebanon | 61-year-old reservist ID’d as fourth military COVID-19 dead Trump calls his description of the Beirut explosion as an attack: ‘Nobody knows it yet’ MAYmeanwhile, said in an interview aired last Saturday that the Trump administration is set to reduce the number of U.S. troops in the country by the end of November.