Trump, Qatar’s Emir discuss ‘prisoner releases in Afghanistan’

US President Donald Trump and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani in a phone call Wednesday discussed the Afghan peace process.

The two sides agreed on the importance of the Taliban reducing violence in Afghanistan, Reuters reported citing the White House statement.

The two leaders also agreed on the importance of continuing discussions on prisoner releases in Afghanistan, the statement said.

The Afghan government released another batch of the militants this week.

“Pursuant to President Ghani’s decree, 71 Taliban prisoners from seven provinces (Nangarhar, Laghman, Kunar, Nuristan, Faryab, Uruzgan, Baghlan) were released today based on their age, health and length of remaining sentence as part of our efforts toward peace and battling COVID-19,” Javid Faisal, a spokesperson for the office of the National Security Council.

So far the Afghan government has released 432 Taliban prisoners, in exchange; the group has freed 60 inmates of the government.

Afghanistan National Security Council, however, said that among the 60 released prisoners by the Taliban, only 19 of them are servicemen.

According to the NSC’s spokesperson, the Taliban have not released the prisoners as per the list provided by the Afghan government.

It comes as the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad has urged the Afghan government and the Taliban “to accelerate prisoner releases, support a prompt reduction in violence, and start intra-Afghan negotiations.”