Taliban Confirms Release Of First Afghan Government Prisoners

The Taliban has announced it will be releasing 20 Afghan government prisoners the group has been holding in the first phase of its commitment under a historic peace deal with the United States.

The deal calls for the government to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners in exchange for 1,000 government officials held by the Taliban insurgents.

The Afghan government released its first 100 Taliban prisoners last week.

Jawed Faisal, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s national security adviser, said the government has thus far released 300 Taliban prisoners overall.

Suhial Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban’s political office, said in a tweet that the first government prisoners will be handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross in the southern Kandahar province.

The exchanges come after the Taliban met with the head of US forces in Afghanistan to call for an end to what they say is an increase in American attacks since a peace deal was signed in February, allegations the US military denied.

On Saturday, a US military spokesman called on the Taliban to stop attacking Afghan security forces, adding American troops would continue to come to their aid.

The peace deal is aimed at paving the way for the US to extricate itself from the 19-year war, America’s longest.

The spokesman confirmed that General Scott Miller met with the Taliban "as part of the military channel established in the agreement" to discuss ways to reduce the violence.

According to Mr Shaheen, the meeting was held late on Friday in the Gulf nation of Qatar, where the insurgent group runs a political office.

Mr Shaheen tweeted that the two sides held "serious" discussions.

He also said the Taliban called for a halt to attacks against civilians.

The US military says it does not target non-combatants.

Cover image: Library picture of a Taliban training camp (Picture: PA).