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Afghanistan released 100 Taliban prisoners on 8 April, claiming they were among 5,000 detainees to be freed under a deal between insurgents and the US. The Taliban, however, said they are yet to verify whether those released were on the list they handed over to Washington during negotiations.
The prisoner release is a critical first step to intra-Afghan negotiations aimed at bringing an end to decades of war in Afghanistan.
The US-Taliban deal signed in February also calls for the Taliban to free 1,000 government personnel they hold hostage. Jawed Faisal, spokesman for Afghanistan's National Security adviser, said the 100 were released from the base in Bagram, near Kabul, on Wednesday.
In a tweet, Shaheen admonished the government for refusing to release the first 15 Taliban detainees they requested and who were on the list.
"They should be released based on our list," Shaheen told AP. The list of Taliban and government personnel to be released were part of the negotiations that led to the signing of the US-Taliban peace deal.
Earlier this week, the US State Department's Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs tweeted a harsh statement expressing frustration at the continued political turmoil roiling in Kabul.
The State Department tweeted: "As the world gets slammed by COVID-19, with devastating economic consequences for all, donors are frustrated and fed up by personal agendas being advanced ahead of the welfare of the Afghan people."
Meanwhile, at least seven Afghan civilians were killed when the Taliban attacked security forces in northern Balkh province, local officials said Wednesday.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Taliban that they were behind the attack in Balkh. In southern Kandahar province, three children were killed and five were seriously wounded when a mortar shell hit in the district of Daman, according to Bahir Ahmadi, the spokesman for the provincial governor.
The Taliban blamed US forces for the attack, and a Taliban spokesman, Qari Yusouf Ahmadi, claimed the children were killed in a drone attack.
However, US military spokesman Colonel Sonny Leggett denied any use of weapons in the area.
(This story has been published in an arrangement with PTI)
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