[ToloNews] The Presidential Palace on Saturday said the intra-Afghan negotiations will not begin unless 24 Afghan commandos and pilots are released by the Taliban
 ...the Pashtun equivalent of men...
, something that is seen as one of the key obstacles in the way of peace.
The Afghan government has so far released over 5,000 Taliban prisoners, including 80 high-value inmates whose release was approved by Loya Jirga, grand council, earlier this month.
According to government data, out of the 400 high-value prisoners, 156 of them have been sentenced to death, 105 of them are accused of murder, 34 of them are accused of kidnapping that led to murder, 51 of them are accused of drug smuggling, 44 of them are on the blacklist of the Afghan government and its allies, 6 of them are accused of assorted other crimes, 4 are accused of unspecified crimes.
Dawa Khan Minapal, a presidential front man, said the Taliban has shown less flexibility towards the release of prisoners so far.
"They [Taliban] have not completed the 1,000 security forces they committed to release. They have released 800 prisoners. The main condition is that they should address their committment," Minapal said.
The first round of the intra-Afghan negotiations is expected to be held in Doha. Some former officials said the efforts for the talks should be expedited.
"Some of our brave young commandos who are in Taliban custody have been relocated from Shahi Kot and areas along the Durand Line. The Taliban has so far failed to release them," said Lotfullah Mashal, a former military official.
"It is not the case that the Taliban is running from this chat. If the Taliban wants peace, they would not be in Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
," said Basir Salangi, former governor of Parwan. 
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