Kabul begins release of final 400 Taliban prisoners ahead of talks

The documents of Taliban prisoners are checked
before their release from Pul-e-Charkhi jail in Kabul, Afghanistan on August
13, 2020. Afghanistan's National Security Council via AP
The documents of Taliban prisoners are checked
before their release from Pul-e-Charkhi jail in Kabul, Afghanistan on August
13, 2020. Afghanistan's National Security Council via AP
Afghanistan has freed the first batch of Taliban
prisoners out of a final 400 whose release will pave the way for negotiations
between the warring sides in the country's protracted conflict, the government
said on Friday.
Javid Faisal, spokesman for the Afghan National
Security Council, said 80 prisoners were released on Thursday while Taliban
officials said 86 prisoners were freed. It was not immediately known when the
remaining prisoners would be released.
Prisoner releases on both sides are part of an
agreement signed in February between the United States and the Taliban to end
the 19-year-old war. It calls for the release of 5,000 Taliban held by the
government and 1,000 government and military personnel held by the insurgent
group as a good will gesture ahead of intra-Afghan negotiations.
Talks are expected to be held in Qatar where the
Taliban maintain a political office. Several Afghan leaders told The Associated
Press talks could begin by August 20.
The negotiations are to lay out a framework for a
post-war Afghanistan. Washington's peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad spent a year and
a half negotiating the peace deal aimed at allowing American troops to return
home and end America's longest military engagement.
US troops have already begun leaving and by November
less than 5,000 troops are expected to still be in Afghanistan, down from
nearly 13,000 when the agreement was signed February 29.
American and Nato troop withdrawal is contingent on
the Taliban keeping their commitment not to allow militant groups to use
Afghanistan against the US or its allies. The withdrawal is not tied to
successful talks between the warring sides.
Last weekend, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani held a
traditional council meeting known as a loya jirga to get a consensus on the
release of a final 400 Taliban he said were accused of serious crimes, saying
that he could not unilaterally decide to release them.
Some of the 400 have been implicated in devastating
bombings in the capital Kabul. During a televised talk on Thursday with the
US-based Council on Foreign Relations, Mr Ghani warned of dangers they could
present to lasting peace in Afghanistan.
But for some in Afghanistan the talks with the
Taliban mirror earlier negotiations with other insurgents, including warlord
and US-designated terrorist Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who many say has a reputation
for violence that exceeds the Taliban.
In 2016, Mr Ghani negotiated a peace deal with Mr
Hekmatyar, whose Hezb-e-Islami group took responsibility for several bombings
in Kabul, including one at a grocery story in the capital that killed a young
family. The deal included removing Mr Hekmatyar from the UN terrorist list. His
group was also responsible for a 2008 attack on French soldiers – the largest
international loss in a single battle in Afghanistan.
Also on Friday, a small bomb hidden in a motorcycle
exploded near a mosque in Kabul just as worshippers were finishing their
prayers, wounding a police officer. No one immediately took responsibility but
ISIS has in the past targeted mosques in Afghanistan.
The ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan has been targeted
by Afghan security forces, US troops and the Taliban. A US Department of
Defence official previously said the peace deal with the Taliban was also
intended to recruit the insurgent group into a co-ordinated fight to rid the
region of ISIS.
Meanwhile, the Afghan Defense Ministry said it was
investigating a video circulating on social media purporting to show Afghan
army personnel mutilating Taliban corpses.
The United Nations Mission in Afghanistan tweeted
that the footage “is deeply shocking ... investigation needs to be swift and
open. If crimes are proven the criminals must be identified and held
responsible."