KABUL - A number of people on Monday emerged in Kabul to voice their support for President Ashraf Ghani’s questioning of Taliban prisoners’ release under the US-Taliban deal.
The historic agreement between the Taliban and the US was signed on February 29 after around one and half years of negotiations in a bid to end the conflict.
Under the agreement, the Afghan government would release 5,000 Taliban prisoners in exchange for up to 1,000 government detainees by 10 March and the rest of other prisoners would be released in three months afterwards.
Talking to a press conference here, Ghani said, “There is no commitment to releasing 5,000 prisoners. We have repeatedly shared this issue with Khalilzad and other officials,” Ghani said. He said time was needed for releasing this number of prisoners.
In response to a question if the US wants to release the prisoners, he said, “It is not the authority of the US to do so, we have no agreement with the US on releasing Taliban prisoners. It is the authority of the Afghan government and it can be discussed only in inclusive negotiations.” (Pajhwok)