Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani wants 400 Taliban prisoners and paving the way for negotiations with the insurgents to pave. Ghani signed a corresponding decree on Monday evening, as the Afghan TV channel “Tolo News” reported. On Sunday, Afghanistan’s traditional tribal Assembly had given the green light to the prisoner release. The 400 fighters are considered to be particularly dangerous and are the last of a total of 5,000 Taliban that are left in the course of the negotiations.
This is cleared a crucial hurdle for direct talks between the Taliban and the government in Kabul about the end of the 19-year-old conflict out of the way. The negotiations should start in the coming days in Qatar’s capital, Doha. The stem Assembly, said that the talks with the Taliban would have to immediately and without delays start. It must also be ensured that the released fighters were back in the war.
The 400 prisoners have partially committed serious crimes, which is why the government has long hesitated to set you free. The question of the prisoner’s liberation was since the end of February a delicate point of contention between the Taliban and the Afghan government. At that time, the United States and the Taliban had signed a historic peace agreement, which provides for the withdrawal of the Americans from Afghanistan. The United States have already announced plans to reduce by the end of November, the number of its soldiers in Afghanistan to less than 5,000.
