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Afghan gov’t refuses to release “dangerous” Taliban prisoners
The Afghan government has refused to release the Taliban prisoners who are accused of involvement in deadly attacks, a released demand by the Taliban as a pre-condition to starting the intra-Afghan negotiations, Reuters reported citing five sources.
Based on five European, Asian and Afghan officials Reuters reported that the Afghan government had opposed the release of hundreds of Taliban prisoners and now western powers are backing the government’s refusal.
These prisoners are accused of involvement in large-scale terrorist attacks including the 2017 car bomb attack at the Zanbaq square, the report said.
Meanwhile, the NATO Secretary-General said that the release of prisoners is a part of the US-Taliban agreement and a precondition for the start of negotiations, and NATO expects progress to be made in this area.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said: “One part of this agreement, the US-Taliban agreement is… the release of prisoners on both sides. That’s part of the agreement. That’s the way to create the conditions for intra-Afghan negotiations. And I’m absolutely certain that the only way to reach a political, sustainable, peaceful solution to the conflict in Afghanistan is to have an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process. Therefore, intra-Afghan negotiations are so important.”
Meanwhile, the Taliban has set the release of the remaining 2,000 prisoners as a precondition for the start of intra-Afghan talks.
“It will certainly not be possible to start Intra-Afghan talks in Afghanistan unless 2,000 prisoners are released from prison,” said Jalaluddin Shinwari, the Taliban’s attorney general.
Hurdles on the way of prisoner release are said to be unsolved. Reuters has said that if the obstacles to the release of prisoners are removed, the ground will be prepared for the start of negotiations.
The Office of the National Security Council says that the release of Taliban prisoners is based on the President’s decree, taking into account the age, health status, and time of detention and that prisoners are not subject to the release process under any other circumstances.
So far, more than 3,000 Taliban prisoners have been released. In the new phase, hundreds of other Taliban prisoners were released in the following days. Intra-Afghan Talks are said to begin by the end of this month, with the release of 5,000 prisoners.
Officials at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) say 7,000 incomplete projects of the World Bank are at risk of destruction in Afghanistan. They call on the World Bank to resume the work of these projects.
According to them, discussions have been held with the World Bank about these projects, but there has been no result yet.
“7,000 incomplete projects are being destroyed, and if the work is not started, these projects will be destroyed. We ask the World Bank to resume the work of these projects as soon as possible,” said Noorul Hadi Adel, the spokesperson of MRRD.
Meanwhile, members of the private sector also ask international institutions to resume their work in Afghanistan.
According to the officials of this sector, with the start of these projects, job opportunities will be provided for thousands of people in the country.
“These projects create employment for our people and the country will grow a lot,” said Mirwais Hajizadeh, a member of the private sector.
However, economic experts stated if the work of these projects does not start soon, they will be destroyed and the investments made in them will be wasted.
Ten people have been killed and six others injured by floods in Helmand province in the past week, local officials said on Friday.
According to officials, seven of those were members of the same family, and they were killed in Kajaki district last night.
“Most of the people moved from vulnerable areas to high lands and mountains, and thanks Allah the number of casualties is low,” Sher Mohammad Vahdat, the head of information of the Directorate of Information and Culture in Helmand, said adding rescue teams and security forces have been dispatched to help people.
It is said that the telecommunication system has also been disrupted due to the effect of floods in Kajaki district. Floods have also destroyed thousands of acres of agricultural land.
Roza Otunbayeva, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, met with the Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in New Delhi and discussed issues related to Afghanistan, it was announced on Thursday.
During the meeting, Otunbayeva thanked India for “its critical humanitarian support and longstanding friendship for the Afghan people” and discussed the importance of regional and international cooperation to address prevailing challenges in Afghanistan, UNAMA said on X.
Jaishankar also said on X that the sides exchanged views on the current situation in Afghanistan.
“Underlined that India has provided wheat, medicines, pesticides and school supplies. Appreciate the role of UN agencies as partners in these endeavors,” he said.
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