Conditional release of prisoners violates Afghan peace agreement, Taliban

The Afghan Taliban has said that the Afghan government's "conditional" on the release of a few Taliban prisoners is actually a breach of a peace agreement between the United States and the Taliban because there was not any precondition for the release of prisoners. 

According to a foreign news agency Reuters, the Taliban spokesman's statement came out when Afghan President's Spokeswoman Siddique said in a tweet on the Twitter that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had released a few Taliban prisoners.

He added that the move of the Afghan president is in line with the mechanism for initiating peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government.

It should be noted that five government officials had earlier confirmed that 1,000 Taliban were expected to be released this week on a temporary basis so that direct negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban could begin.

"We did not agree to the conditional release of the prisoners. If anyone claims, this would be against the peace agreement on February 29," he said.

An Afghan president's spokesman said that if the Taliban refrain from attacking Afghan forces, another 5,000 would consider releasing Taliban prisoners.

On the move of the Afghan president, Doha's spokesman Sohail Shaheen said "the agreement clearly states that the Afghan government will release 5,000 prisoners before the start of talks."

It should be noted that on the second day of the signing of a peace agreement between the United States and the Taliban, on March 1, the Afghan president, in his statement, rejected the release of Taliban prisoners, saying that the agreement between the United States and the Taliban in relation to the release of prisoners.

Ashraf Ghani told media in Kabul that 'the Afghan government has made no promises regarding the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners'.

Expressing his resolve to continue partial support for the deal to establish peace in Afghanistan, he made it clear that 5,000 Taliban fighters would not be released in exchange for the release of 1,000 prisoners by the Taliban.

The Afghan president said that 'it was not within the jurisdiction of the United States, it was merely acting as a facilitator'.

To which Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid had said, "If we do not have 5,000 prisoners left, there will be no inter-Afghan talks, there may be a reduction of 100 or 200 in which there is no problem".

Remember that a peace deal was signed between the Afghan Taliban and the United States on February 29, which was signed by US Representative Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban's head of political affairs Mullah Abdul Ghani.

It is to be remembered that the United States has also started withdrawing troops from Afghanistan by taking the first step under a peace deal with the Taliban.