Afghanistan government releases 100 Taliban prisoners during 3-day Eid ceasefire

A day after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani pledged to speed-up the process of releasing Taliban prisoners, Afghanistan freed at least 100 inmates from the insurgent group to mark the Eid al-Fitr celebrations on Monday, May 25.

Afghanistan’s National Security Council spokesperson Javid Faisal informed the international media that 100 Taliban prisoners have been released from the Bagram prison and the government plans on freeing at least 2,000 prisoners as a “goodwill gesture” after both sides agreed on a temporary ceasefire on the occasion of Eid.

In his Eid al-Fitr message on Sunday, Ghani had announced that he would “expedite” the release of Taliban prisoners to mark another step forward towards a truce with the insurgent group by the “responsible government”. This comes after the Taliban announced a three-day ceasefire starting on May 24.  

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‘Winner’ of peace will be citizens

The release of Taliban prisoners from Afghan jails, which was also part of the US-Taliban peace deal as ‘confidence-building measure’, has been in rough waters over a disagreement. The Taliban has demanded at least 5,000 prisoners to be freed at one go in exchange for 1,000 Afghan security officials detained by the extremist group. 

However, the Afghan government had refused to oblige until now because according to Ghani, the “winner” of prevailing peace would be the citizens of the country who “suffer the most”.

"As a responsible government, we want to move one more step forward: I am announcing that the release of Taliban prisoners will be expedited and we call on the Taliban that they also expedite the release of the security and defence prisoners," Ghani was quoted by ANI.

"The winner of peace will be the Afghan people. War brings destruction and misery, especially for Afghan women who suffer the most," he added.

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Image source: AP