The Taliban need to take solid steps to pave the way for intra-Afghan talks, officials of the High Council of National Reconciliation said as the start of the talks remain uncertain.  

“The Taliban should take solid actions to help pave the way for the start to intra-Afghan talks, the Taliban should agree on a date,” said Faraidoon Khawzon, a spokesman for Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the High Council of National Reconciliation.

Reservations that were raised by a number of Western countries about Taliban prisoners to be released, and the conditions set by the Afghan government about the release of Afghan government hostages, are apparently the two main hurdles hindering the timely start of the intra-Afghan negotiations.

In early August, nearly 3,400 Afghan delegates at a three-day Loya Jirga-- the grand council--approved the release of 400 high-value prisoners of the Taliban whose release was an obstacle for the intra-Afghan negotiations.

Two days later, the government released 80 of the prisoners, but said the release of the remaining 320 is conditional on the release of at least 20 Afghan commandos in Taliban custody, according to officials. 

Meanwhile, President Ashraf Ghani has said that peace and stability will not come to Afghanistan without democracy.

“Stability will not prevail in Afghanistan without democracy,” said Ghani.

Last week National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib said that in order to complete the process of the release of another 320 high-profile Taliban inmates, the group first has to agree on the release of at Afghan commandos and pilots.

“Whether the Afghan government want this or not, this redline will also break like the previous redlines,” said Mohammad Ismail Khan, a former mujahideen leader.

“The Afghans should sit among themselves and talk, but regarding France, their (foreign soldiers) weren’t here for vacation, they came here for war---then who is there to compensate Afghans?" said Sayed Akbar Agha, a former Taliban commander.

The Taliban insists that it has met its commitment to release 1,000 Afghan government hostages under the peace deal with the US.

According to government data, out of the 400 prisoners in question, 156 of them have been sentenced to death, 105 of them are accused of murder, 34 of them are accused of kidnapping that led to murder, 51 of them are accused of drug smuggling, 44 of them are on the blacklist of the Afghan government and its allies, six of them are accused of assorted other crimes, four are accused of unspecified crimes.

The list of 5,000 prisoners was given to the Afghan government by the Taliban to be released ahead of the intra-Afghan negotiations, which are now expected to be held in Doha.

This comes a day after US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said he sees “no legitimate reason” to delay the intra-Afghan negotiations that are expected in near future but have been postponed over differences on the release of high-value Taliban prisoners by the Afghan government.