Afghan government releases over 100 Taliban prisoners

The Afghan government has released 102 more imprisoned Taliban militants in accordance with a recent agreement between the US and the militant group.

Javid Faisal, the Spokesman for the Afghan National Security Council (NSC), announced in a Twitter post on Tuesday that the prisoners had been freed on the order of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani a day earlier.

Faisal said that with the release of the latest batch of prisoners, Kabul has so far freed a total of 850 Taliban inmates from the 1500 agreed under a so-called US-Taliban peace deal in late February.

Stressing that more prisoners could be freed once talks start between Kabul and the Taliban, the Afghan official urged the militant group to continue releasing the country's National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) and military personnel in accordance with the agreement.

Faisal announced on Sunday that the Taliban inmates were being released based on their age, health, and length of remaining sentence as part of efforts toward peace and combating the new coronavirus outbreak.

SS