KABUL: Abdullah Abdullah, the head of Afghanistan's High Council for National Reconciliation, said that Taliban prisoners were released by the government in the hope for ending the war and reducing violence in the country, but the expectations from the move were not met. Addressing the Herat Security Dialogue on Saturday, Abdullah said the Afghan government will never shut the doors for peace, reports TOLO News.
"The release of the Taliban's prisoners was done with the hope that they will end the war with the start of the talks or at least agree on a humanitarian ceasefire," said Abdullah.
The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has said that over 7,600 civilians were killed and wounded in conflicts in Afghanistan so far this year.
"From the figure, 2,342 were killed. Among those killed are 253 women and 452 children," said NaeemNazari, the deputy of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC).
At the same event, families of war victims criticized the absence of their representatives in the peace process.
At the security dialogue, speakers held talks on the solutions that could help end the war in Afghanistan. "We want to raise the shortcomings and the leakages that the Afghan peace has got over the past four decades," said DavoodMuradian, chairman of Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS). Violence has remained high in various parts of the country amidst ongoing efforts to move the peace process forward. Intra-Afghan talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha have also stalled. (IANS)