WASHINGTON, 5 August 2005 — The United States will return about 110 Afghan prisoners from Guantanamo, Cuba, to Afghanistan, where the Kabul government will decide whether to detain or release them, the two countries said yesterday.
The Pentagon said an additional 350 Afghans detained by the US military at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan will be turned over after Afghan facilities are built and guards trained.
The agreement on the “gradual transfer” of Afghan prisoners, among about 510 terrorism suspects held at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, was reached after Afghan President Hamid Karzai said during a visit to Washington last spring that he wanted custody of his countrymen.
Although Washington has already handed over hundreds of Afghans captured since US-led forces helped topple the Taleban after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, yesterday’s formal agreement is expected to speed up the process for the rest.
Only four of the hundreds of prisoners held at Guantanamo have been charged with crimes. Most were swept up during the fighting in Afghanistan and held for three years, sparking major complaints by human rights groups and charges from former prisoners that they were tortured.
“The government of Afghanistan will accept responsibility for the returning Afghan citizens and will work to ensure that they do not pose a continuing threat to Afghanistan, the coalition, or the international community as a whole,” the Pentagon statement said.
US-led forces invaded Afghanistan and overthrew Taleban’s radical government after its leaders refused to hand over Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden, mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Since then, US troops have detained hundreds of suspected Taleban and Al-Qaeda members, both in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo. The US military has already released nearly 300 suspected Al-Qaeda and Taleban prisoners held in Afghanistan this year.
The announcement did not provide numbers, but US Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said about 110 detainees would be sent from Guantanamo and another 350 transferred from the US facility at Bagram over an extended period.
