Ghani hails Afghan council deal to free Taliban

A traditional Afghan Council concluded on Sunday with hundreds of delegates agreeing to free 400 Taliban members in Kabul.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani praised the delegates for their decision and urged the Taliban to stop fighting.

The decision paves the way for an early start to negotiations between Afghanistan's warring sides and looks to bring the United States closer to bringing its troops home and ending its longest military engagement.

The Taliban welcomed the decision saying talks could begin within one week of the prisoners' release.

The US urged delegates at the outset to take the "unpopular" decision to free the last of 5,000 Taliban so negotiations could begin.

No date has been set, but negotiations between Kabul's political leadership and the Taliban are expected to begin as early as next week.

The negotiations will most likely be held in the middle eastern state of Qatar, where the Taliban maintains a political office.

The Afghan negotiations were laid out in a peace deal signed by the United States and the Taliban in February.

At the time of its signing it was said to be Afghanistan's best chance of ending decades of war.