Taliban expected to release last of govt prisoners ahead of Eid 

Suheil Shaheen, spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Doha, said on Wednesday night that the group would release the remaining prisoners before Eid al-Adha. 

In a statement on Twitter, Shaheen said: “Today, a total of 28 soldiers and policemen of the Kabul Administration were released from prisons of the Islamic Emirate in Baghlan and Logar provinces. They were sent to their families after having received financial help for transportation fare.”

He then called on the Afghan government to reciprocate by releasing the remainder of the 5,000 Taliban prisoners, as per the US-Taliban agreement signed earlier this year in Doha. 

Shaheen also stated that this should be “according to the list already provided in order to pave the way for the inception of intra-Afghan negotiations.”

He said that the group’s decision to release the remaining prisoners in their custody was “a goodwill gesture” ahead of the Eid holidays. 

So far, the prisoner swap issue has been seen as an obstacle in the way of much hoped for intra-Afghan talks. 

However, President Ashraf Ghani said earlier this week while addressing the fourth Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) in Kabul that to demonstrate the government’s commitment to peace, they would soon complete the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners.

Ghani said that “with this action we look forward to the start of direct negotiations with the Taliban in a week’s time.”

He also called on the Taliban to join the government at the negotiating table and to call for a “permanent and comprehensive ceasefire.”

A “commitment to a ceasefire during the coming Eid will be an indication of things to come,” he added.

Within hours of Ghani having said this, the Taliban issued their statement on Twitter announcing the three-day ceasefire over Eid al-Adha.

Soon after, government announced it would reciprocate and also called a truce over Eid.