Taliban frees 36 Afghan detainees

Kabul, June 6 (IANS) The Taliban has freed 36 Afghan detainees from its custody in Farah province and handed them over to security forces on Saturday, in the latest round of prisoner swap.

However, Mohammad Shuaib Sabit, the governor for Farah province asserted that some of the released persons were civilians, reports Xinhua news agency.

The exchange of prisoners is part of the US-Taliban peace deal that was inked in Doha on February 29 to facilitate the intra-Afghan dialogue for finding a political solution to Afghanistan's prolonged war and withdrawal of the US-led forces from the country.

Under the agreement, the Afghan government has to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners for the exchange of 1,000 security forces languishing in Taliban custody.

So far, the government has released 2,700 Taliban detainees, while the Taliban has freed over 420 prisoners, 73 of them during the last few days from Balkh, Logar, Kunduz, Paktia, Paktika and Khost provinces.