Afghans welcome gov’t-Taliban prisoners’ swap as step towards intra-Afghan dialogue

Kabul|2020-04-13 Monday(Xinhua)

Afghans have welcomed the exchange of prisoners between the government and the Taliban outfit as a step towards initiating intra-Afghan talks to find negotiated solution to the country’s prolonged war.

The government of Afghanistan freed 100 Taliban prisoners from Bagram prison on April 8 and since then 361 detainees have been released, according to Javid Faisal, the spokesman for National Security Council.

“The government released 361 Taliban prisoners from Bagram prison under the presidential decree of March 11. As per the decree, releases will continue across other prisons to free a total of 1,500 as part of our efforts to advance peace,” Faisal writes in his Twitter account on Monday.

In the same manner, the Taliban outfit has also set free 20 detainees of the government and handed them over to International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in southern Kandahar province Sunday.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in contact with media has confirmed the report and said that “20 soldiers of Kabul administration were freed in Kandahar on Sunday”.

Welcoming the prisoners’ exchange, an Afghan analyst Dad Mohammad Annabi said “The release of more than 300 Taliban detainees in Bagram and freeing 20 prisoners by the Taliban in Kandahar could be a step towards beginning of intra-Afghan talks.”

“The release of prisoners by the government and the Taliban is virtually a move towards confidence building that could eventually bring the two sides to the negotiating table,” Annabi told Xinhua.

He also observed that the start of prisoners swap or any other step that narrows the gap and brings the rival sides towards dialogue deserves appreciation and should be welcomed.

The exchange of 5,000 Taliban prisoners with 1,000 Afghan security forces prisoners as a precondition for initiating an intra-Afghan dialogue is part of the U.S.-Taliban peace deal inked on Feb. 29 in Doha to end the war in Afghanistan.

“We Afghans have fed up of endemic war and civil strife. I personally support the exchange of prisoners between the government and the Taliban and am praying for the success of the process and returning lasting peace to the country,” a Kabul resident Mohammad Hamayon said.

Both the Afghan government and the Taliban outfit are hopeful that the prisoners’ exchange could finally led to the start of intra-Afghan dialogue and eventually to returning durable peace to the war-battered country.