The Afghan authorities have begun the process of releasing 400 remaining Taliban, and 80 of them were released the day before, the office of the national security council said.
On Monday, the Tolo News channel, citing a source in the presidential palace, reported that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani signed a decree on the release of 400 Taliban.
"Yesterday, the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan released 80 convicted Taliban out of the 400 whose release was authorized by the Loya Jirga to accelerate efforts for direct negotiations and a lasting cease-fire across the country," the office said in a statement on Twitter.
Earlier, the Tolo News reported that on Sunday, August 9, members of the national people's congress of Afghanistan (Loya Jirga) decided to release the remaining 400 members of the radical Taliban movement. Later, the Afghan broadcasting company RTA, citing sources, reported that negotiations could begin on August 16.
In late February, at a ceremony in Qatar, the United States and the radical Afghan Taliban signed the first peace agreement in more than 18 years of war, which provides for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan in 14 months and the beginning of an inter-Afghan dialogue after the completion of the prisoner exchange deal. By mid-July, the US military had left five bases in Afghanistan as part of the agreement.
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Based on materials from RIA Novosti