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Peace talks to start next week, says Abdullah
Intra-Afghan negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban will start next week, said Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, on Thursday.
The first round of talks are expected to take place in Doha, Qatar and will likely focus on a ceasefire.
Talks were due to start early this month but stalled after President Ashraf Ghani failed to release the remaining 320 Taliban prisoners as per a decree he signed to this effect.
Already about 5,000 Taliban prisoners have been freed but the last batch are deemed hardcore and are guilty of having masterminded some of the more serious attacks in the country while others are drug kingpins.
Abdullah did not however say whether this issue has been resolved.