KABUL -- The Afghan government said on Wednesday (April 8) it released 100

Taliban prisoners, a day after the insurgents said they were walking out of talks
with Kabul.

The 100 prisoners were on the broader list that the Taliban technical team shared
and discussed during meetings with the technical team of the government, and
were released based on their health condition, age and length of remaining
sentence and as part of the government's efforts to contain the COVID-19
outbreak.

The National Directorate of Security and the Attorney General’s Office thoroughly
vetted the prisoners, who have taken an oath never to return to the battlefield, said
a statement from the National Security Council on Wednesday.

The two foes have been negotiating in Kabul since last week to try to finalise a
prisoner swap that was originally supposed to have happened by March 10 and to
pave the way for "intra-Afghan" peace talks between the government and the
Taliban.

But the swap has been beset with problems, with the Taliban wanting 15 "top
commanders" to be released.

"We cannot release the killers of our people," said Matin Bek, a member of the
government's negotiating team, on April 6 referring to the 15 commanders. "We
don't want them to go back to the battlefield and capture a whole province."

"One hundred Taliban prisoners will be released today," Javid Faisal, a spokesman
for Afghanistan's Office of the National Security Council, told AFP.

"We are doing our part in the agreement," he added. "The peace process should
move forward."

The 15 commanders were not among those being released and additional prisoners
will be freed "depending on what the Taliban do", said Faisal.

"Discussions on ANDSF and Taliban prisoners had entered an important phase

ahead of release. Withdrawing from talks at such time indicates a lack of
seriousness about peace," the Afghan National Security Council said on Twitter
Tuesday (April 7). "Gov’t remains committed to pursuing peace, and Pres.
[Ashraf] Ghani's decree of March 11 remains in effect."

The insurgents did not immediately comment.

Obstruction by Taliban
The United States signed a deal with the Taliban in late February that suggested
the Afghan government free 5,000 Taliban prisoners and for the insurgents to
release 1,000 pro-government captives in return.

On April 7, Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen accused the Afghan

government of "intentionally postponing the release and breaching the deal".

However, many Afghans see the Taliban as the ones delaying peace talks.

The Taliban last month continued posting photos touting the military training of its
members, raising doubts among Afghans about how serious the militants were
about peace.

That came after the militants on March 28 first stalled talks on the prisoner
exchange when they rejected a negotiating team put together by the Afghan
government, claiming that the team was not inclusive.

The militant group instead agreed only to meet a technical team from the Afghan
government to discuss the contentious issue.