Afghanistan’s Ghani conditions Taliban prisoner release on violence end

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has rejected a US-Taliban proposal for the government in Kabul to free more prisoners of the militant group as part of a peace agreement in February, saying his country’s people will not allow a further release of Taliban inmates as the group has failed to fulfill a pledge to reduce its nationwide bloodshed and violence.

Speaking during a trip to the southern Kandahar Province on Thursday, Ghani said the Taliban had destroyed 16 percent of Afghanistan’s wealth in the war last year and that the militant group’s call for the release of more prisoners at this stage was unacceptable.

“Now that they (Taliban) ask for the release of another 2,000 (prisoners), will you allow their release? No!, We saw that the bloodshed did not stop. They must stop the bloodshed so we can talk,” the Afghan president said, addressing the local people.

Ghani underlined that if the Taliban are willing to bring peace and security to the country, they can come to Kandahar to hold talks with the Afghan government’s delegation.

The Afghan president also pointed to the recent attacks by the Taliban in various parts of the southern province and pledged that Afghan security forces would do their utmost to restore security.

Earlier in the week, Afghan officials announced that peace talks between the government and the Taliban militant group are set to resume in early January as the two sides take a break after reaching a preliminary agreement to end the conflict.

Representatives from the government in Kabul and those from the Taliban held the first round of the much-awaited intra-Afghan negotiations in Doha on September 12. The talks are also attended by politicians from Afghanistan, international organizations and the United States.

SS