Afghan president approves release of Taliban prisoners

KABUL, Afghanistan (AA) - Afghanistan’s president has formally approved the release of Taliban prisoners starting this Saturday as part of Kabul’s efforts to start direct talks with the rebel group.

As per a decree signed by President Ashraf Ghani, the Taliban prisoners would be required to give a written commitment stating they would not take up arms again.

In a tweet on Tuesday night, presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said the decree greenlights the release of Taliban prisoners “in accordance with an accepted framework” for the start of talks between the government and the rebel group.

The decree, issued to the media on Wednesday, states that 1,500 prisoners would be freed initially. They will be released after a biometric process and in groups of 100 every day over a period of 15 days.

“The releasing of the 1,500 Taliban is a goodwill gesture and the process will be started on March 14 at Parwan prisons. Every day 100 Taliban prisoners will be released in consideration of age, health status, and the remaining time of sentenced imprisonment,” read the document.

Kabul expects the gesture will bring the Taliban to the negotiation table and has conveyed its conditions for the release of the remaining 3,500 Taliban prisoners.

"With the beginning of the direct talks between the Afghan government and Taliban, every two weeks 500 Taliban prisoners will be released -- provided that a major reduction in violence continues -- until 3,500 more are released,” said the decree.

After the U.S.-Taliban deal and joint Afghan-U.S. declaration of Feb. 29, Kabul is expected to release up to 5,000 prisoners and the Taliban are to free 1,000 captives in order to start the intra-Afghan negotiations.

A day after the historic agreement was signed in Qatar’s capital Doha, President Ghani had clarified that the Afghan government had not made any commitment for the proposed release of Taliban prisoners.

“The release of the detainees is not in the domain of the U.S., only the Afghan government has that authority,” he said at a press conference in Kabul, and said the country’s parliament would decide the matter.

However, Ghani announced on Monday that a mechanism for the release of Taliban prisoners had been reached, as he took oath as president for another five-year term.