The country’s largest gathering of elders, Consultant Loya Jirga, on Sunday passed a resolution calling for the release of the last batch of some 5,000 Taliban prisoners, who demanded the Taliban’s release as a condition of participating in peace negotiations.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said he would sign a mandate for the release of prisoners when he addressed the Loya Jirga in Kabul on Sunday.
“The Jirga approves the release of four hundred Taliban prisoners to remove obstacles to the beginning of peace talks and to stop the bloodshed,” the meeting said in its resolution.
It added that after the release of the prisoners, “immediate negotiations” should be “started immediately without apology.”
“The Jirga also calls on the Taliban to fulfill their obligation to release all civilians and military prisoners and release them immediately,” the resolution said.
The first round of peace talks is scheduled to take place in Doha, the capital of Qatar, where the Taliban hold a political office, said Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the High Council for National Association and chairman of the Loya Jirga, on Saturday. .
The assembly stressed the need for “a direct and lasting ceasefire in the country” and called on the international community, in particular the United States, to “commit to the people of Afghanistan.”
“The parties concerned intend to release the remaining prisoners within the next three months. The United States obliges them to fulfill this objective,” the agreement said.
“We are going to number less than 5,000 by the end of November,” Esper said in an interview with Fox News.
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