Afghanistan Times
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KABUL: The Taliban have said they would hold talks with the government just one week after the last of their 5,000 prisoners was released from government jail.
The group’s Qatar-based political office said on Monday that the government of Afghanistan should not postpone the release of imprisoned insurgents, arguing that it could postpone peace process.
The government has said it would keep 600 of 5,000 prisoners Taliban demand to be released, adding that they were responsible for big crimes including killing of people.
Suhail Shahin, spokesman of the militants’ political office, said that they would be ready to hold inntra-Afghan talks the week after their last prisoner is released from government jail.
He said the talks would be held in Qatar.
“We have repeatedly said that the prisoner release should be completed to pave the ground for the intra-Afghan negotiations. The process is speedy going on from our side, but the release of our prisoners should not be postponed because it delays the peace process,” Shahin said.
Based on the peace agreement between the US and Taliban, Afghan government is called to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners before the intra-Afghan talks.
The government has released more than 4,000 Taliban prisoners and over 700 government prisoners have been released by Taliban.
The insurgent group insists on the release of its prisoners before talks with the government.
