Taliban reject Afghan offer to free 1,500 prisoners

The Taliban yesterday rejected Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's offer to release 1,500 insurgent prisoners ahead of peace talks, saying it wanted 5,000 captives freed before opening negotiations.

Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen told AFP the prisoners should be released "as a trust-building measure" before intra-Afghan talks.

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Any changes amounted to a violation of the deal struck between the insurgents and Washington in Doha last month, he added.

Although Kabul was not a signatory to the deal, it stated that up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners held by Afghan authorities would be released, prompting an angry reaction from Ghani.

Shaheen's announcement came hours after Ghani issued a decree saying the government would release 1,500 captives starting Saturday -- but only if the insurgents cut violence.

Another 3,500 prisoners would be released after talks started, a spokesman said on Twitter.

The announcement came hours after the US said its forces had started pulling out of two bases in Afghanistan, in line with a deal signed between Washington and the Taliban. US negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad welcomed the announcement and urged the Afghan government and the Taliban to meet "immediately" in Qatar to sort out prisoner details.

The State Department voiced confidence that Afghan peace talks would open soon, saying Ghani was speaking to rivals and would name a negotiating team "in the coming few days."

The UN Security Council on Tuesday endorsed the US-Taliban deal, a rare step for an agreement involving insurgents.

Under the US-Taliban deal, foreign forces will quit Afghanistan within 14 months, subject to Taliban security guarantees and the insurgents holding talks with Kabul.

The US is initially supposed to cut its troop presence from about 12,000 currently to 8,600 by mid-July, and close five of its roughly 20 bases across the country.