The release of Taliban prisoners is a time-consuming process and there is no need to panic, said Waheed Omar, a top advisor to Afghan president Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday.

He said that the Afghan government remains committed to the prisoners’ swap with the Taliban, but in order to make this happen, there is a need for good intentions from both sides about the issue.

“This process is a lengthy process, there is no need to be hasty. Of course no prisoner will be released unconditionally within the span of ten days as it was stated before. Our position regarding this issue is very clear on how to do this job and under what conditions,” said Omar.

This comes a few days after a three-member delegation from the Taliban arrived in Kabul to discuss the issue of the Taliban’s prisoners.

On Monday, the Taliban strongly criticized the delay of the prisoners’ release.

“We sent a technical team of the Prisoner’s Commission to Kabul for verification and identification of our prisoners as release of prisoners was to start as per the signed agreement and the promise made (to us). But, unfortunately, their release has been delayed under one pretext or another till now. Therefore, our technical team will not participate in fruitless meetings with relevant sides starting from tomorrow,” tweeted Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban in Doha.

The prisoner release is a step outlined in the US-Taliban deal signed in Doha on February 29 that is intended to be a confidence-building measure to pave the way for the intra-Afghan talks.

“Up to 5,000 prisoners of (the Taliban) and up to one thousand (1,000) prisoners of the other side will be released by March 10, 2020, the first day of intra-Afghan negotiations, which corresponds to Rajab 15, 1441 on the Hijri Lunar calendar and Hoot 20, 1398 on the Hijri Solar calendar,” part of the agreement reads.

On March 1 Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said his government had not pledged to free Taliban prisoners, as stated in the deal between the US and the militants. The Afghan government had not been included in the deal.

“There is no commitment on the release of the 5,000 prisoners” of the Taliban,” Ghani said at the time.

But on March 11, President Ashraf Ghani signed an order to pardon and release Taliban prisoners in order for the peace talks between Afghanistan's government and the Taliban to start. However, he said the release would be gradual, and would have conditions.

But following repeated international calls from the US and others to keep the peace process on track, meetings were arranged between both groups to allow the swap to begin. However, at the moment they are once again stalled.