Afghanistan government said that up to 10,000 prisoners will be released in the next 10 days in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus in jails across the country, according to the report.
On Thursday, Ahmad Rashid Totakhil, head of the general directorate of prisons, said that the prisoners who will released does not pse a threat to the society, TOLO News reported.
“The persons that we are releasing are not a big threat to society, they had committed small crimes,” said Totakhil.
In a statement, Public Health Minister Ferozuddin Feroz, said: “Because we do not have any vaccine or treatment for the virus, the only way is to implement health-recommended measures. The measures are very easy and can save the lives of millions.”
On Wednesday, President Ashraf Ghani released a list of 20 representatives to negotiate with the Taliban, an important step towards the much-awaited intra-Afghan talks.
According to the ministry of Public Health figures, a total of 94 people have been infected by the COVID-19 virus in Afghanistan, while four have died.
Earlier this month, Ghani had pardoned thousands of Taliban prisoners in a key preliminary step to intra-Afghan talks between a government delegation and the extremist group.
The Doha accord also calls for the gradual withdrawal of American and other foreign troops over a 14-month period — the singular focus of the US diplomatic efforts. The first phase of that withdrawal has already begun.
On Wednesday, an unidentified gunmen and suicide bombers stormed a Sikh gurdwara in the heart of Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul that killed at least 27 worshippers and wounded as many, in one of the deadliest attacks on the minority community in the country.
More than 10,000 civilians were killed or wounded in Afghanistan’s war last year, the United Nations announced Saturday, as a historic partial truce kicked in across the country. India did not recognise Afghanistan diplomatically when Taliban was ruling the country from 1996 to 2002.