“The Afghan government has released another batch of the remaining Taliban prisoners and the work is still underway to move the prisoner exchange process forward. Exchange of the prisoners is a two-way process and the government is closely assessing each step at the process,” Sediqqi said.

“The Afghan Government delivers on its commitments in the peace process in line with the mandate given by the Consultative Peace Jirga. We expect the Taliban to live up to their commitments on the release of the remaining ANSDF captives,” he added.

On February 29, the U.S. signed a conditional peace agreement with the Taliban in Doha, the capital of Qatar, which calls for the withdrawal of foreign troops in 14 months if the Taliban uphold the terms of the agreement.

On March 1, 2020, however, the Afghan government, which was not a party to the deal, rejected the U.S. and Taliban's call for a prisoner swap by March 10, 2020, with President Ghani stating that such an agreement will require further negotiation and will also not be implemented as a precondition for future peace negotiations. (ILKHA)