Afghanistan ready for talks with Taliban without preconditions: Abdullah

The Afghan government is ready to begin the peace talks with the Taliban without any preconditions, said Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation.

Addressing a video conference at the US Peace Center on Wednesday, Abdullah said that the decision was made jointly between him and President Ashraf Ghani.

Abdullah added that the Afghan negotiating team is fully prepared to sit in direct talks with the Taliban.

He stressed that all efforts are now focused on the release of prisoners, the reduction of violence, and a unified strategy for achieving peace.

Abdullah said that there would room for dialogue unless the Taliban fulfill their commitment to reducing the violence, urging the group to take practical steps toward resolving the issue.

So far, the government has released about 3,000 Taliban prisoners, and the Taliban have released more than 500 prisoners. But the Taliban sets the release of all its 5000 prisoners as a precondition for a kick start of the intra-Afghan negotiations.

“Only if all 5,000 Taliban prisoners were released, intra-Afghan talks will begin a week later,” said Sayed Akbar Agha, a former member of the Taliban.

The first round of talks between the two laterals was scheduled to take place in Qatar in June, but due to the lack of completion of the prisoner exchange process, the start of the talks is still delayed.