Daily Times

President Ashraf Ghani’s spokesman said on Wednesday that the Afghan government will gradually release 5,000 Taliban prisoners starting this week to pave the way for direct talks with the insurgent group aimed at ending the 18-year-long war in Afghanistan.

Taking to social media website the United States Special Representative to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad tweeted that the assertion signed by Ghani assured the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners.

The two-page decree said that all released Taliban prisoners would have to provide “a written guarantee to not return to the battlefield”.

The decree laid out details about how the Taliban prisoners would be released in a systematic manner to further peace talks.

“The process of releasing 1,500 Taliban prisoners will be completed within 15 days, with 100 prisoners walking out of Afghan jails every day,” the decree said, adding that the release process would begin in four days.

Talks between the Taliban and the Afghan Government to end the war would run parallel with the release, the decree said.

Commanders of the hardline insurgent Islamist group said they would honour the deal by handing over 1,000 government troops.