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Russia seeks release of three Taliban leaders by Afghan government as goodwill gesture

On Tuesday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani confirmed that his government had released three prominent Taliban figures - Haji Mali Khan, Hafiz Rashid and Anas Haqqani

MOSCOW, November 14./TASS/. Russia welcomes any real moves of the warring parties in the Afghan conflict towards the launch of a peace process, seeing the release of three commanders from the Taliban-linked Haqqani network as a gesture of good will from the Afghan government, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing on Thursday.

"We have repeatedly said that we welcome any real moves by the opposing forces in the Afghan conflict aimed at ending the armed confrontation and launching a peace process in Afghanistan," the spokeswoman said in reply to a question.

"Within this context, we consider the release from prisons of three leaders of the Haqqani network connected with the Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia), as a gesture of good will from the Afghan government that will help advance the intra-Afghan peace process," the diplomat said.

On Tuesday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani confirmed that his government had released three prominent Taliban figures - Haji Mali Khan, Hafiz Rashid and Anas Haqqani. The Taliban commanders were released in a prisoner swap to free two foreign nationals held by Taliban militants. These are two university professors, an American and an Australian, abducted in August 2016.

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