Kabul: Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani stressing on the need for a "transparent mechanism" to release the Taliban prisoners – as part of a peace deal between the US and the Taliban said that as head of state he does not want any of the detainees in question imprisoned.

He also said that there is a need for an “executive guarantee” for the release of the prisoners, Tolo News reported.

Based on the US-Taliban agreement signed on Feb. 29 in Qatar, up to 5,000 prisoners of the Taliban in the Afghan government’s custody should be released by March 10 ahead of the intra-Afghan negotiations.  

Saturday's event was attended by Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and Second Vice President Mohammad Sarwar Danish and members of the two parliament houses – the Wolesi Jirga and the Meshrano Jirga.

Calling the current condition "critical" in terms of an opportunity for peace, Ghani said the people’s request is that there should be an executive guarantee so that these people (prisoners) will not return to violence once they are released.

“Afghanistan is in a critical stage and is in dire need of unity. We can only overcome challenges with the perspective of national unity,” Ghani concluded.