The Afghan government has sent a technical team to Doha to prepare for talks with the insurgents and is preparing to release new Taliban prisoners, a crucial step in the peace process, officials said on Wednesday (September 2nd).
Read also: Afghanistan: the government resumes the release of the Taliban
“
A small team has been sent to Doha.
They are here for logistical preparations
, ”said Najia Anwari, spokesperson for the Ministry for Peace.
"
The (government) negotiators will be flying (to Doha) very soon,
" she hoped.
Scheduled for March, the opening of these groundbreaking peace talks, which aim to end decades of conflict, have been postponed due to disagreements over an exchange of some 5,000 Taliban prisoners for a thousand members of the Afghan forces. .
One hundred and twenty prisoners, among the most dangerous, are still imprisoned by the Afghan authorities.
But, officials say, Kabul is preparing to release more captives.
153 prisoners released on Tuesday
"
The exchange of prisoners will soon be over and the negotiating team will go to Doha to begin
inter-
Afghan discussions
," explained Fridon Khawzon, spokesperson for the High Council for National Reconciliation, a government body which oversees the peace process.
A senior Afghan government official told AFP that the releases must continue today, while 153 prisoners were released on Tuesday, and 47 on Monday.
The Taliban have also confirmed that 200 of their operatives have been released in the past two days.
The opening of negotiations and the exchange of prisoners are clauses of the US-Taliban agreement, not ratified by Kabul, signed in Qatar in February with a view to the withdrawal of foreign troops by mid-2021.
Read also: Afghanistan: the grand assembly approves the release of 400 Taliban prisoners
Another obstacle to the process, France and Australia opposed the release of several Taliban captives, guilty of having killed some of their nationals.
It is not yet clear whether these criminals are among the detainees released this week.
The Taliban, for their part, claim to have done their part, and have said they are ready to begin peace talks with Kabul "
in the week following
" the finalization of the exchange of prisoners.
But the Afghan authorities are still demanding the release of 22 of their commandos and pilots still in the hands of the insurgents, four of whom were released on Tuesday, and two more are to be released on Wednesday, according to a Taliban official.
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