Afghan authorities have released 361 Taliban members from jail, said Javid Faisal, the spokesman for the Afghan National Security Council.

According to him, the release will continue according to the decree until 1,500 members of the radical movement are released, RIA Novosti reported.

Earlier, the release of 300 Taliban have been reported, and the Taliban, in turn, released 20 prisoners and transferred them to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan.

US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad called on the parties to expedite the process of exchange of prisoners. He also noted that a possible epidemic of coronavirus in prisons poses a danger, which is another reason to act immediately.

At the end of February, at a ceremony in Qatar, the US and the Taliban signed the first peace agreement after over 18 years of war, which provides for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan in 14 months and the start of an inter-Afghan dialogue in March after a prisoner exchange deal.