The two-page decree – which was signed by Ghani and will be made public later by his office – said that all released Taliban prisoners will have to provide “a written guarantee to not return to the battlefield.”

The decree lays out details about how the prisoners will be released in a systematic manner, a process that it says will begin in four days.

“The process of releasing 1,500 Taliban prisoners will be completed within 15 days, with 100 prisoners walking out of Afghan jails every day,” according to the decree.

Talks between the Taliban and Afghan government to end the war will run parallel with the release, the decree said.

If the talks make progress, the government said it will release a further 500 Taliban prisoners every two weeks until a total of 5,000 Taliban prisoners have been freed.

The decree said that the Taliban will have to stick to its commitment to a reduction in violence during this period and beyond.

The release of the prisoners is part of a confidence-building measure to pave the way for the opening of direct talks between the government and the insurgents, after talks with both sides and the United States individually.

Commanders of the hardline insurgent Islamist group have sent vehicles to be ready to collect the fighters in a prisoner exchange and said they will honour the deal by handing over 1,000 government troops.

It was unclear whether prisoners would be released from other prisons aside from Bagram, a detention facility located next to a U.S. military base.

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The Hashed’s deputy chief was also killed in the attack, the force added, which comes after a pro-Iran mob this week laid siege to the US embassy following deadly American air strikes on a hardline Hashed faction.
“The deputy head of the Hashed, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and head of the Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, were killed in a US strike that targeted their car on the Baghdad International Airport road,” the Hashed said in a statement early Friday.

The airport was hit in a volley of missiles just after midnight, Iraq’s military had announced.
Security sources told AFP the bombardment hit a Hashed convoy and killed eight people, including “important figures.”

The Hashed is a network of mostly-Shiite armed units, many of whom have very close ties to Tehran but which have been officially incorporated into Iraq’s state security forces.

The units joined forces to fight the Islamic State group in 2014 but many of them had built up years of fighting experience during Iraq’s war years, including against the US.

Muhandis is the Hashed’s deputy chief but widely recognised as the real shot-caller within the group.

Soleimani heads the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force and also serves as Iran’s pointman on Iraq, visiting the country in times of turmoil.

Both have been sanctioned by the United States.

There was no immediate comment from the US on the developments, which come after an unprecedented attack on its mission in Baghdad.

A mob of Hashed supporters surrounded the US embassy on Tuesday in outrage over American air strikes that killed 25 fighters from the network’s hardline Kataeb Hezbollah faction, which is backed by Iran.
The US had acted in response to a rocket attack days earlier that had killed an American contractor working in Iraq.

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Interacting with media persons, General Rawat vowed to work to create more synergy among the three Services. “The CDS is mandated to facilitate integration, ensure best economical use of resources allocated to the Armed Forces and bring uniformity in the procurement procedure. I want to assure you that the Army, Navy and Air Force will work as a team and the CDS will ensure integration among these,” he said.

Earlier, General Rawat inspected the Tri-Service Guard of Honour at the South Block Lawns. Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria and Chief of the Army Staff General Manoj Mukund Naravanewere also present on the occasion. General Rawat also laid wreath and paid homage to the martyrs at the National War Memorial.

Ex-Chief of the Army Staff General Rawat, is an alumnus of National Defence Academy, Defence Services Staff College, Wellington; Higher Command, National Defence College. He also attended the Command and General Staff Course at Fort Leavenworth in the United States.

During his distinguished career in the Army, General Rawat commanded an Infantry battalion along the Line of Actual Control in the Eastern Sector, a Rashtriya Rifles Sector, an Infantry Division in the Kashmir Valley and a Corps in the North East. General Rawat had also commanded a Multinational Brigade in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As an Army Commander, he commanded a theatre of operations along the Western Front and was appointed the Vice Chief of the Army Staff before assuming office of Chief of the Army Staff.

During the span of over 41 years in the Army, General Rawat has been awarded several gallantry and distinguished service awards.

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