Afghan authorities have begun releasing a final batch of 400 Taliban prisoners, removing the last obstacle to talks between the government in Kabul and the insurgents.
Negotiations on a possible end to the decades of Afghanistan’s war could begin next week, one source said. The Associated Press also reported that August 20 was suggested as a possible launch date, citing several Afghan leaders.
The meetings are likely to take place in Qatar, where the Taliban have a ‘political bureau’ that allows its leadership to participate in international negotiations, reports AP.
The Afghan government has already released thousands of Taliban fighters under an agreement between Washington and the militants that allowed US troops to return home and was intended to set the stage for negotiations between the Afghan parties over a new political arrangement. It predicted the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners and 1,000 Afghan soldiers and officials.
The country’s president, Ashraf Ghani, who was not involved in the US prisoner exchange talks, had dragged his feet over the release of the final 400 Taliban prisoners, saying they were serious and hardened criminals. include. Some have been implicated in bombings in Kabul and attacks on foreign troops.
He held in loya jirga, a traditional meeting of political elites of cross-faction, to decide whether the proposals continue. It approved the release of the men in an attempt to make peace, a decision that Ghani described as dangerous but necessary.
Javid Faisal, a spokesman for the National Security Council, announced Friday that the first 80 had been released. Taliban officials also confirmed 86 prisoners had been released, according to AP. It is not clear when the rest will follow.
The talks come against a backdrop of a declining U.S. military presence, and Donald Trump has signaled that U.S. troops will check at home whether or not Afghan parties reach a peace agreement.
There were 13,000 U.S. troops in the country when the withdrawal agreement was signed in February, and troop numbers have already dropped dramatically. They are likely to be below 5,000 by November.
The main pledge made by the insurgents against Washington was to separate ties with al-Qaeda and prevent it and other militant groups from using Afghanistan as a base for international attacks.
Critics of the peace process say they fear the Taliban may be using it to reduce the US military presence, and will resume arms if the government in Kabul – which they have always cited as pop stars – receives less international support on the ground.
A brief diminution of violence paved the way for the withdrawal, but attacks then escalated into apparent resistance to a secret deal between the US and the militants to stop the fighting.
Civilian casualties fell in the first half of the year compared to 2019, the UN said, but that was mainly the result of a reduction in operations by the US and its international allies, and in attacks by local branch Isis.
.
