KABUL: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Wednesday that the government had met all of its commitments for peace talks with the Taliban, as a team left for Qatar to prepare for negotiations.

Ghani's remarks came after Kabul broke an impasse with the insurgent group on Monday by resuming a protracted prisoner exchange, a key hurdle to long-delayed negotiations between the two sides opening in Doha. "The government has fulfilled all its commitments in the peace process that the international community had hoped for," Ghani told a team of government-backed negotiators at a meeting at the presidential palace, his office said.

"The release of Taliban prisoners is a clear demonstration of the government's commitment to peace." Kabul had baulked at the release of the final 400 Taliban inmates who Ghani described as "a danger to the world", before a group of prominent Afghans approved their release for the sake of peace talks. A senior government official told AFP on Wednesday on condition of anonymity that at least 200 prisoners have been released since Monday and the process "will continue today too".