Earlier this year on February 29,2020, the United States and the Taliban signed an agreement intended to be the first step toward an intra-Afghan peace deal after more than 18 years of conflict. Some important provisions of deal were US Commitments to withdraw its troops within 14 months, a Taliban agreed to prevent Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups from using Afghan territory against United states and its partners, and a promise was made by both sides to support intra-afghan peace process. The main part to the agreement was releasing the prisoners by Afghan government on immediate basis. But Kabul remains reluctant to do so, by claiming some of them as dangerous militants or guilty of some serious crimes, and it becomes the main hurdle to the peace deal. under the agreement the Afghan government was committed to release up to 5000 prisoners. but so far just 4,400 prisoners have been released by Kabul and around 600 by the Taliban. The progress to peace process remains standstill, therefore US must involve herself to get the issue resolved.
Sanaullah Khawar
Lahore
