Kabul: Afghanistan government and Taliban officials have said to intensify efforts to come to the negotiating table. Negotiations between the two sides will be a difficult stage for the US-Taliban peace deal. The talks in the Taliban’s office in Qatar are expected to prepare a roadmap for Afghanistan’s future. However, the first agenda in the negotiations is considered to be a ceasefire agreement.
It is noteworthy that in February, the US and Taliban signed a peace deal, in which negotiations between different sides of Afghanistan were agreed. With this agreement, the path of America’s exit from war-torn Afghanistan was cleared for nearly 20 years. The agreement had decided that the Taliban would free Afghanistan from terrorist groups. This week, the government and the Taliban have agreed to release the remaining prisoners by mutual agreement, ending the last hurdle in the negotiations between the two sides. Neither side has publicly said anything about the release of the prisoners, but Taliban and government officials have told news agency AP that both sides have completed the release process under the agreement.
The Afghan government was to release 5,000 Taliban members, which has been greatly delayed, especially with regard to the release of the last 400 prisoners. The Taliban was to release 1,000 government and military personnel. President Ashraf Ghani and the head of the umbrella organization National High Level Reconciliation Council, which is monitoring the talks on behalf of the government, Abdullah Abdullah have made it clear that their top agenda is reduction of violence or ceasefire.
Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen had earlier told news agency AP that the first issues to be discussed in the talks would include a ceasefire. The Taliban have also reportedly prepared their agenda and a team of 20 interlocutors is in direct contact with Taliban chief Mullah Hibbatullah Akhundzada.
