Releasing 400 Taliban jihadis doesn’t herald peace talks, but surrender talks. It has been a foregone conclusion for years that the Taliban would take over Afghanistan after the Americans left, but that is not an argument for keeping American troops in Afghanistan perpetually. The military should focus on making sure that Afghanistan does not and cannot export jihadis to the U.S. Otherwise, if the Afghans want to institute a Sharia kleptocracy, it is not the responsibility of the United States to make sure that every nation has good government. The present government has not stood against Sharia in any way, and the Americans actually supervised the institution of a Sharia constitution there, making the presence of American troops there all the more pointless.
“Afghanistan to release 400 ‘hard-core’ Taliban prisoners in bid to start peace talks,” ABC.net.au, August 9, 2020 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
The Afghan Government has agreed to release 400 “hard-core” Taliban prisoners, paving the way for peace talks aimed at ending more than 19 years of war.
Under election-year pressure from US President Donald Trump for a deal allowing him to bring home American troops, the war-torn country’s grand assembly, or Loya Jirga, approved the release, a controversial condition raised by the Taliban militants to join peace talks.
“In order to remove an obstacle, allow the start of the peace process and an end of bloodshed, the Loya Jirga approves the release of 400 Taliban,” the assembly said in a resolution.
Atefa Tayeb, a council secretary who read out the final declaration at the conclusion, said it was a way to “stop the bloodshed”.
Minutes later, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said: “Today, I will sign the release order of these 400 prisoners.”
Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen said the decision “was a good step, a positive step”.
He said negotiations could start within one week of their prisoners being freed….