...mindless ferocity in a turban...
prisoners to begin intra-Afghan negotiations and to help the announced reduction in violence go on, said the National Security Council on Sunday.
President Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money...
on May 24 pledged to release 2,000 Taliban prisoners as a goodwill gesture in response to the Eid ceasefire announced by the Taliban. So far, the government has released 1,700 detainees of this latest pledged tranche, bringing the total number of Taliban released to 2,700.
| The Taliban has also released over 420 prisoners, 73 of them during the last few days from Balkh, Logar, Kunduz, Paktia, Paktika and Khost provinces. |
The Taliban has also released over 420 prisoners, 73 of them during the last few days from Balkh, Pashtun-infested Logar, Kunduz, Paktia, Paktika
...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo...
and Khost province
... across the border from Miranshah, within commuting distance of Haqqani hangouts such as Datta Khel and probably within sight of Mordor. Khost is populated by six different tribes of Pashtuns, the largest probably being the Khostwal, from which it takes its name...
s.
"The process will continue so that based on President Ghani’s decree, 2,000 prisoners are released," said Javid Faisal, a front man for National Security Council.
"The intra-Afghan negotiations will begin when 5,000 Taliban prisoners are released. I don’t think they will begin before that," said Sami Yausafzai, a journalist familiar with the matter.
The Presidential Palace says the Afghan government is ready for intra-Afghan negotiations.
"We are fully ready for the process," said presidential front man Sediq Sediqqi "The negotiation team is ready, and the High Council for National Reconciliation has been established and we are fully ready for beginning the negotiations."
Rights activists said the prisoners' release should be carried out responsibly.
"No doubt, prisoners will be released to begin the intra-Afghan negotiations, but the issue is that those who are released-- are they accused of war crime and crimes against humanity or not?" said Zabihullah Farhang, head of the media office of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.
On Saturday, Abdullah Abdullah
...the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against both Karzai and Ghani. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun. He also held the meaningless salaried sop position as CEO of Afghanistan, while Ghani was president..., head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, said he hopes the intra-Afghan negotiations will begin in the next week, and he reiterated that the negotiation team and the Afghan government are ready for the process.
Hizb-e-Islami: Top Members in Still Not Released by Afghan Govt
[ToloNews] The Hizb-e-Islami party led by
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar... who used to be known in intelligence circles as
The Most Evil Man in the Worldbut who now seems merely run-of-the-mill evil...
is not "happy and satisfied" with the release of its prisoners by the Afghan government, a process that is part of a peace deal signed between Hekmatyar and President Ashraf Ghani in 2016.
Based on the agreement, the government pledged to release almost 3,000 prisoners of Hizb-e-Islami, and, according to members of the party, at least 600 prisoners have been released, including 164 of them freed on Friday.
"Our prisoners were in Guantanamo as well as in Pul-e-Charkhi and Bagram prison (in Afghanistan). We can say that our top prisoners are still in prison," said Atiqullah Safi, head of Hizb-e-Islami’s commission for the release of prisoners.
Among the 164 prisoners released on Friday, some of them claimed they were arrested on charges of being a Taliban
...mindless ferocity in a turban...member, not a member of Hizb-e-Islami.
But Safi rejected this claim by saying that there are no Taliban members in their list given to the government.
"All those on the list...are related to Hizb-e-Islami. We have taken guarantees from each of our prisoners and they have been introduced to us by their families and provincial members of Hizb-e-Islami," Safi said.