KABUL: The Afghan government has released 102 more Taliban prisoners in line with the US-Taliban peace deal signed in February this year.
"Pursuant to President Ashraf Ghani's decree, the government released 102 Taliban yesterday. Over 850 has been released, getting us more than halfway to 1,500. More can be released upon the start of talks," National Security Council Spokesperson Javid Faisal wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
On Sunday, Javid Faisal had said that Taliban prisoners were being released based on their age, health, and length of remaining sentence as part of efforts toward peace and battling COVID-19.
The prisoner exchange and launch of the intra-Afghan talks became possible after the Taliban and the United States reached a peace deal in February this year.
However, at this point, the talks have been delayed due to Afghanistan's electoral tussle and mutual disagreements over the release of prisoners.
The Taliban is demanding that the Afghan government to release 5,000 prisoners on the basis of the peace deal. Meanwhile, the Afghan government is gradually releasing 1,500 members of the movement.