Afghanistan officials say a traditional consultative council will convene on Friday to decide whether the last 400 Taliban prisoners will be released as part of a peace agreement, even as its Health Ministry says half of Kabul's residents are infected with the coronavirus.
The Taliban have rejected any changes to the deal they signed in February with the US.
That deal calls for 5,000 Taliban prisoners to be freed by Kabul and the Taliban to free 1,000 government personnel, including security officials, ahead of the start of intra-Afghan negotiations to map out a framework for a future Afghanistan. The release of the 400 prisoners is the final hurdle to the start of negotiations.
The Taliban have freed the 1,000 prisoners they were holding and US And NATO soldiers have already begun withdrawing troops in line with the agreement.