The Afghan President officially announces the decision to release 1,500 Taliban, after signing the peace agreement with Washington

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced the decision to release the Taliban militants arrested in his country, within the framework of the peace agreement between Washington and the Taliban.

A statement issued by the Afghan presidency, Wednesday, stated that one thousand and 500 Taliban members will be released as of March 14th.

With the start of the talks between the Afghan parties, 500 Taliban members will be released every two weeks, bringing the number of those demobilized to 3,500.

The statement indicated that the decision to release the Taliban, falls within the framework of the good intentions of President Ghani, and paves the way for the start of peace talks between the Afghan parties.

He noted that the Afghan authorities will receive written pledges not to return to fight in the ranks of the movement, who will be released.

Earlier, a spokesman for the Taliban office in Qatar, Suhail Shaheen, said in a statement that the movement had handed over a list of prisoners to American officials for their release in the framework of the agreement between the two sides.

And Shaheen added, “The movement will only accept the release of the prisoners listed, and not others, without mentioning more details.”

On February 29, the Qatari capital, Doha, witnessed an agreement between the United States and the Taliban, paving the way, according to a timetable, for the gradual withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan.

The agreement stipulated that the number of troops be reduced from about 13 thousand to 8,600 military personnel within 135 days.

It also provided for the release of up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners, compared to up to 1,000 prisoners from the Afghan government by March 10.