Fraidoon Khwazoon, the High Council for National Reconciliation spokesperson, on Monday said that all obstacles ahead of the intra-Afghan talks have been removed and soon talks will begin.
“All obstacles ahead of the intra-Afghan talks have been removed. The prisoner swap process will end soon and intra-Afghan talks will begin,” Khwazoon tweeted.
Khwazoon also said that Afghanistan’s Islamic Republic negotiation team is fully prepared for the trip to Doha.
Meanwhile, eight of the 320 Taliban prisoners still held by the Afghan government have been released from Kandahar Prison, said the media office at the Kandahar governor’s office. The were released to help start talks between Afghans, the office said.
And reports suggest that more than 200 of the 320 have been released in the past three days, and that the remaining prisoners will be released soon.
The US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien on Tuesday in a phone call with President Ashraf Ghani called for a swift start to the intra-Afghan talks.
“NSA O’Brien had a great phone call with President Ashraf Ghani today to discuss the need for intra-Afghan talks to start without delay. Reiterated US support for a sovereign, democratic, and unified Afghanistan that never again serves as a source of international terrorism,” the NSA tweeted on Monday.
“The US stands with the Afghan security forces who have made tremendous sacrifices for the Afghan people,” said O’Brien.
Meanwhile, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, the Taliban’s chief negotiator, has called on Australia and France not to interfere in Afghanistan’s internal affairs. Both countries have asked the Afghan government not to release prisoners who are accused of killing their citizens.
Stanekzai called for the immediate release of Taliban prisoners held by the Afghan government.
Also, the Afghan government is demanding the release of 22 commando forces by the Taliban.
The talks between the Afghan factions and the Taliban were expected to begin 10 days after the Feb. 29 deal between the US and the Taliban, but it is dependent on the completion of a prisoner exchange by the Afghan government and the Taliban.
