Taliban to free 20 Afghan government prisoners: Spokesman

The Taliban militant group in Afghanistan says it plans to release 20 prisoners of the Afghan government in what would be the first handover since the beginning of a fragile peace process.

“Today, 20 prisoners of the Kabul administration will be released,” Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesman, said in a tweet on Sunday, adding that the captives would be handed over to the representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the southern city of Kandahar.

The move appears to be a major breakthrough after the militants walked out of talks with Kabul last week.

It was the second time the Taliban were reversing a decision about their interactions with the Afghan government.

Washington is compelled under the deal to pull out American forces and foreign troops from Afghanistan by July next year, provided that the militants start talks with Kabul and adhere to other security guarantees.

The Afghan government, which was excluded from the talks and was thus not a signatory to the accord, is required to release up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners. The militants are obliged to free 1,000 pro-government captives in return.

Since Wednesday, the Afghan government has released 300 Taliban prisoners.

The prisoner swap has been meant to be a prelude to peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

The Taliban and the Afghan government have been negotiating for months to finalize the prisoner swap to pave the way for intra-Afghan peace talks, but the negotiations haven’t been smooth.

Since the US-led invasion that ousted a Taliban regime in 2001, the US has reportedly spent more than one trillion dollars on the war in Afghanistan.

About 2,400 US soldiers have been killed, along with unknown numbers of Afghan troops and Taliban militants. Over 100,000 Afghans have been killed or injured since 2009 when the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan began documenting casualties.

About 14,000 US troops and approximately 17,000 troops from NATO allies and partner countries remain stationed in Afghanistan.