Afghanistan’s Loya Jirga, the highest consultative body of elders, on Saturday urged the government to release the remaining 400 Taliban prisoners to push forward the peace process.

Axar.az reports citing foreign media.

On the second day of the grand assembly in the capital Kabul, Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the Supreme Council of National Reconciliation, said a majority of participants voted in favor of releasing the Taliban inmates.

The fate of the remaining captive insurgents – a particularly thorny issue between Kabul and the Taliban – was one of the main aims of the grand moot, which ends on Sunday.

Abdullah said the over 3,000 participants held detailed deliberations on other top priority matters as well, and have voiced support for the government’s calls for a permanent cease-fire and international guarantees that the Taliban will not resort to violence again.

They also agreed that the much-stalled intra-Afghan talks should start at the earliest, he said.