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Taliban releases 20 prisoners of Afghan government
The Taliban has released 20 prisoners of Afghan government from its captivities after hundreds of inmate insurgents were released by the government over the last few days.
Suhail Shaheen, the group’s political spokesman said that the Taliban handed the prisoners over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in southern Kandahar province Sunday.
Jalaluddin Shinwari, Former Attorney General for the Taliban regime said, “These 20 prisoners are not released for exchange but for goodwill.”
Although the Taliban previously said that most of the prisoners who were released by the government are unknown, but now it confirmed that most of the released inmates were according to its list.
Sayed Akbar Agha, the former Taliban commander said, “The prisoners are according to the list provided by the Taliban.”
Khalil Safi, head of the Afghanistan peace center said, “The US should put pressure on both sides in order for the peace talks to start.”
This comes as the Afghan government released the third batch of 100 Taliban prisoners on Sunday bringing the total number of released prisoners by the government to 300, while the Taliban only released 20.
Based on the US-Taliban deal, before the Intra-Afghan talks start, five thousand prisoners of the Taliban and 1,000 prisoners of the Afghan government should be released, however, the process faced some challenges when the Taliban demanded 15 of their senior commanders to be released.
Zalmay Khalilzad, the former U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan, has announced the release of another American citizen in the country.
Khalilzad said in a post on his X account that, according to information from the Islamic Emirate’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Faye Dai Hall, an American citizen who has been in custody in Afghanistan, will be released soon.
Earlier, George Glezmann, an American citizen whom the Islamic Emirate had held for over two years, was also released.
US Vice President JD Vance said on Friday that Joe Biden administration left about $80 billion worth of military equipment in Afghanistan, which was a “catastrophic error.”
Vance made the remarks during a visit to a military base in Greenland.
He also said the Biden administration’s “catastrophic error” led to the deaths of 13 US soldiers in an attack during the evacuation at Kabul airport in August 2021.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump also criticized the abandonment of military equipment in Afghanistan and called for its return.
The Islamic Emirate, however, has said that the weapons left by the US in Afghanistan belong to the Afghans and will not be returned.
The Supreme Court announced on Saturday that based on the ruling of the supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate, 2,463 prisoners have been pardoned and released on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr.
The court said in a statement that the prison terms of another 3,152 prisoners have been reduced.
Eid in Afghanistan will be celebrated on Sunday or Monday, depending on the moon sighting.
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