KABUL (SW) – A number of analysts believe that most of the prisoners recently released by the government return to the ranks of the Taliban for armed insurgency.
They insist that the government should inform the citizens about the circumstances behind release of the Taliban.
As fighting between the security forces and the Taliban increased, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani announced to release 887 mostly Taliban detainees on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr. Ghani said the move was based on the demands of the people's representatives in the ‘Loya Jirga’ (grand consultative session) for peace.
But, a number of analysts believe that the release of Taliban prisoners from the prisons has weakened morale of the security forces, and the President's move is aimed at political campaign for polls.
Javed Kohistani, one such expert, argued that the President has launched a new front of electoral campaign with this move. He said this move is part of a secret deal.
Mirza Mohammad Yarmand, another analyst, said that if the government does not inform the citizens about the release of Taliban prisoners, citizens will look at the government's performance negatively. Yarmand believed that freeing the Taliban for electoral campaign is not an effective strategy.
However, Shah Hussein Mortazavi, deputy spokesman for the President, told Salam Watandar that most of the detainees who are to be released are struggling with illnesses, some of them are old and others have completed prison terms. The spokesman for the presidency said this has nothing to do with the elections.
The Taliban prisoners are scheduled to be released from prisons in coming ten days.
ENDS
