Afghanistan releases over 300 Taliban prisoners since Eid ul-Azha

The Taliban have yet to react to the newly released prisoners.

KABUL (Reuters) – The government of Afghanistan released 317 Taliban prisoners since the beginning of the Eid-ul Azha Muslim festival on Friday, the country’s office of National Security Council said on Twitter on Sunday.

With the newly-released prisoners, the total number of Taliban prisoners released from Afghan custody reached 4,917 prisoners, the Council said.

The 317 were among an additional 500 Taliban prisoners that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani ordered freed on Friday as a goodwill gesture.

The Taliban have yet to react to the newly released prisoners.

However, on Friday Ghani said that he has "no authority" under the country’s constitution to release the remaining 400 inmates on a Taliban list of prisoners to release because of their involvement in serious crimes.

He added he would soon call a consultative Loya Jirga - a traditional grand assembly of elders - to decide their fate.

The militant group says it has freed all 1,000 prisoners it had pledged to release in a deal with the United States.

The Taliban have announced a temporary ceasefire for the three days during the Muslim Eid ul-Azha festival starting Friday. The government has reciprocated.

The US-Taliban deal paves the way for the withdrawal of all international troops from Afghanistan and an exchange of prisoners between the Afghan government and the militants. It also paves the way for intra-Afghan peace talks.