KABUL: Plans for the Afghan government to begin releasing Taliban prisoners were stalled on Saturday over disagreements on the number of detainees to be released and guarantees that they will not return to fighting, a government security spokesman said.
The Taliban promised to open talks with the Afghan government as part of an accord reached with the United States last month to end 18 years of US involvement in war in Afghanistan.
The militants say the agreement requires the government to release 5,000 prisoners before talks begin. The government says the talks must begin and violence subside before it will free all the detainees.
Earlier this week President Ashraf Ghani agreed to free 1,500 prisoners on Saturday with plans to release the remainder once conditions were met.
“We are ready to start the process the way it is described in the presidential decree but we won’t release anyone if there is no guarantee that they will not return to fighting,” said Javid Faisal, spokesman for the Afghan government’s national security adviser. “The Taliban have to show flexibility “
The Taliban are refusing to accept a partial release of the prisoners or any conditions on their release, its spokesman told Reuters on Friday.
“Our stance on the prisoners’ release is crystal clear. They should be released without any pre-condition the way it is mentioned on the US-Taliban peace agreement,” Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters by phone. “We have not agreed to any extra dialogue or conditions.”
Officials and experts say the issue poses a major hurdle to starting peace talks, alongside an additional challenge of rising discord between Ghani and his political rival Abdullah Abdullah.
Both men say they are the country’s rightful leader. Their intense feuding is leading to the risk of parallel governments being formed and is hindering the appointment of a delegation to negotiate with the Taliban.
Release of Taliban prisoners stalls over guarantees
https://arab.news/jgq53
Release of Taliban prisoners stalls over guarantees
- Earlier this week President Ashraf Ghani agreed to free 1,500 prisoners on Saturday
- Taliban are refusing to accept a partial release of the prisoners or any conditions on their release
Hundreds of migrants, including Pakistanis, land in Greece after search operation at sea
- Rescued migrants were taken to a temporary facility on Crete after reaching the port of Agia Galini
- Greece has made deportations of rejected asylum seekers a priority under its migration policy
ATHENS: Greece’s Coast Guard rescued about 540 migrants from a fishing boat off Europe’s southernmost island of Gavdos on Friday, one of the biggest groups to reach the country in recent months.
The migrants were found during a Greek search operation some 16 nautical miles (29.6 km) off Gavdos, a Coast Guard statement said. They are all well and are being taken to a temporary facility on the nearby island of Crete after reaching the port of Agia Galini, a Coast Guard official said, adding most of the migrants were men from Bangladesh, Egypt and Pakistan.
In a separate incident on Thursday, the EU’s border agency Frontex rescued 65 men and five women from two migrant boats in distress off Gavdos, the Greek Coast Guard said.
Greece was on the front line of a 2015-16 migration crisis when more than a million people from the Middle East and Africa landed on its shores before moving on to other European countries, mainly Germany.
Flows have ebbed since then, but both Crete and Gavdos — the two Mediterranean islands nearest to the African coast — have seen a steep rise in migrant boats, mainly from Libya, reaching their shores over the past year and deadly accidents remain common along that route.
Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Italy will be eligible for help in dealing with migratory pressures under a new EU mechanism when the bloc’s pact on migration and asylum enters into force in mid-2026.
The center-right government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has said deportation of rejected asylum seekers will be a priority.
