Afghan President pledges to 'expedite' release of Taliban prisoners amid Eid ceasefire

Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, in his Eid al-Fitr message on Sunday, announced that he would “expedite” the release of Taliban prisoners as taking another step forward towards a truce with the insurgent group by “responsible government”. This comes after the Taliban announced a three-day ceasefire starting on May 24 as Islam’s holy month of fasting comes to an end. 

The release of prisoners of the group held by the Afghan government, which was also mentioned in the US-Taliban peace deal as ‘confidence-building measure’, has been at a standstill 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 defense 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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Three-day Eid ceasefire

The announcement of a three-day Eid ceasefire at the end of Ramzan came amid an escalation of armed conflicts between Taliban and Afghan government despite the ‘momentous’ signing of US-Taliban peace deal was expected to pave the way for a dialogue between Taliban and the Afghan government. The insurgent group’s spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid had made the declaration on Twitter and called for a halt in ‘offensive operations solely’ for Eid festivities.

Even though the troops on both sides were expected to cease war during the ‘violence reduction’ period after the peace agreement involving the US, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani has welcomed the Taliban announcement. He took to Twitter and said that as the Commander-in-Chief of the army he has instructed them to ‘defend only if attacked’. This comes after the Taliban rejected the Afghan government’s call for a ceasefire for Ramzan and called it ‘not rational’. 

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(With ANI inputs)

Image Source: AP