The paths of these two stars have intersected on several occasions due to their association with the luxury brand Bulgari
entertainment4 hours ago
The Afghan government said it would release another 100 Taleban inmates Thursday, even though the insurgents have walked out of talks over a comprehensive prisoner swap and dismissed Kabul's piecemeal freeing of captives as "unacceptable".
The administration of President Ashraf Ghani on Wednesday released 100 low-risk Taleban prisoners who had vowed never to return to the battlefield, and officials said the same number of insurgents with similar profiles would be set free Thursday.
The releases come as Ghani faces an ongoing political crisis, US fury over a floundering peace process and a growing coronavirus epidemic in Afghanistan, where officials fear the disease could run riot through the country's prisons.
Kabul "will release 100 Taliban prisoners today based on their health condition, age and length of remaining sentence as part of our efforts for peace and containment of Covid-19," Javid Faisal, spokesman for the Office of the National Security Council (NSC), said on Twitter.
Taleban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told AFP the step was inadequate.
A small Taliban team came to Kabul last week to meet the government to discuss a comprehensive prisoner swap that was initially supposed to see 5,000 Taliban released in return for 1,000 Afghan security forces.
But they abandoned the "fruitless" meetings on Tuesday and returned to the southern province of Kandahar.
"Our stance has been very clear on prisoners swap," Mujahid said.
"Now, hundreds of prisoners are released on a daily basis. This is not part of our process and it is unacceptable to us."
When asked why the government was still releasing Taleban inmates even though the prisoner swap appeared to have collapsed, Faisal said: "We need to push the peace process forward."
The United States signed a withdrawal deal with the Taleban in late February that required the Afghan government - which was not a signatory to the accord - to participate in the prisoner exchange. That step was supposed to have led to "intra-Afghan" peace talks starting on March 10.
No one knows when, or if, they may now start.
In the agreement, the US and other foreign forces will withdraw from Afghanistan in 13 months, and the Taleban must talk to Kabul and stick to several security guarantees.
The paths of these two stars have intersected on several occasions due to their association with the luxury brand Bulgari
entertainment4 hours ago
The students' demands range from a ceasefire in Israel's war with Hamas to calls for universities to stop investing in Israeli enterprises
world4 hours ago
Despite Kohli's flowing form ahead of the T20 World Cup in June, pundits have raised concerns over his strike-rate
cricket4 hours ago
Saudi Arabia has begun to explore extracting lithium from sea water
business4 hours ago
Speaking after meeting Lebanese leaders, French foreign minister says there had been "a lot of progress" over the French proposals
mena5 hours ago
The three-shot winner from Japan says he is aiming to become a member of the PGA Tour in the future
sports5 hours ago
Big-hitting Nienaber falters at the finish to settle for secondwhile former Abu Dhabi resident David Horsey takes the third spot at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club
sports5 hours ago
The UAE is India's second-largest export destination after the US
economy5 hours ago