Taliban will not participate in Intra-Afghan dialogue till release of its prisoners, says Mujahid

• Zabihullah says if 5,000 prisoners are not released there will be no intra-Afghan talks.
• Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had rejected demand to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners as condition for talks with Afghanistan’s government.
• The US officials and Taliban representatives inked an agreement after months of negotiations that aims to end the US's longest war, fought in Afghanistan since 2001.

(Karachi) Taliban Spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid has said that they will not participate in intra-Afghan talks until 5,000 of its prisoners are released.

In a telephonic conversation with Reuters, Mujahid said that if 5,000 prisoners are not released there will be no intra-Afghan talks.

Zabihullah said the majority of prisoners on the list of 5,000 had been captured by American forces and were held in Afghan government prisons and that they had prioritised sick and older prisoners.

He stated, "As we are receiving reports that people are enjoying the reduction in violence, we don't want to spoil their happiness, but it does not mean that we will not take our normal military activities back to the level that we were before."

The Taliban spokesperson’s comments came after the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani rejected demand to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners as condition for talks with Afghanistan’s government. "The Taliban demand for the release of its prisoners from Afghan jails cannot be a pre-condition to direct talks with the hardline group," Ghani said on Sunday.

As part of the accord between the United States and the Taliban, both were committed to work expeditiously to release combat and political prisoners as a confidence-building measure, with the coordination and approval of all relevant sides.

Up to 5,000 jailed Taliban will be released in exchange for up to 1,000 Afghan government captives by March 10, as per the pact .

The US officials and Taliban representatives inked an agreement after months of negotiations in Qatar's capital Doha that aimed to end the United States's longest war, fought in Afghanistan since 2001. The pact was signed in the presence of leaders from Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey, India, Indonesia, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. The agreement will pave the way for the US to gradually withdraw its troops.

The two sides have long wrangled over the US demand for a ceasefire before the signing of the agreement, which has four points: a timeline of 14 months for the withdrawal of all US and NATO troops from Afghanistan; a Taliban guarantee that Afghan soil will not be used as a launchpad that would threaten the security of the US; the launch of intra-Afghan negotiations by March 10; and a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire.