Afghan government says it has freed 490 Taliban prisoners
- Country:
- Afghanistan
The Afghan government says it has freed 490 Taliban prisoners from jails across the country in a gesture of goodwill as part of efforts to move a stalled peace process forward. Feroz Bashari, government media centre chief, told The Associated Press on Thursday that the freed Taliban insurgents were either ailing or had less than a year remaining on their prison sentence.
He says they are part of a group of 887 inmates that President Ashraf Ghani ordered freed to mark the Eid-al-Fitr holiday that followed the end of the holy month of Ramadan earlier in June. He didn't say when the remaining prisoners would be released.
The development comes as US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is in the Afghan capital of Kabul, trying to revive peace talks.
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
- READ MORE ON:
- government
- prisoners
- jails
- Afghan
- Kabul
- Taliban
- insurgents
- Ashraf Ghani
- Zalmay Khalilzad
- prison
- inmates
ALSO READ
Reclusive Taliban leader releases Eid message urging officials to set aside their differences
Attack on NIA officials is 'direct evidence of TMC's Talibani mindset culture': BJP
Panel of journalists calls on Taliban to lift Facebook ban in Afghanistan
Amid Taliban's opposition, UN says process underway to 'appoint' special representative for Afghanistan
Police apprehend 4 Naxal insurgents in Chatra, Jharkhand