The declaration, issued in the form of a presidential decree, is being viewed as Karzai's first step toward implementing one of several recommendations made at a peace conference last week aimed at bringing an end to a war now almost nine years old.
More than 1,500 Afghan tribal and religious elders gathered last week in a three-day traditional "jirga", or tribal council, in Kabul, where they agreed to open negotiations with the Taleban and other insurgent groups in a bid to bring peace.
The jirga also called on the Afghan government and foreign troops in the country "as a gesture of good will", to free those prisoners being held "on inaccurate information or unsubstantiated allegations".
Hundreds of suspected insurgents have been lingering in Afghan jails across the country since the Taleban were ousted in late 2001 and hundreds more are being held at US military prisons in Afghanistan, including the main US jail at Bagram.
On Sunday, Karzai ordered the creation of a delegation, headed by the justice minister, to investigate those detainees being held in prisons in the "capital and in the provinces", his palace said in a statement.
"The delegation will study prisoners' cases and will release those detainees where there is a lack of evidence against them," the palace said.
While it was not immediately clear whether the delegation would review detainees held at US prisons and other foreign military bases in the country, NATO's top civilian spokesman in Afghanistan said they would cooperate with the government. "NATO and ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) stand ready to work with the government in turning these recommendations into implemented peace plans," said spokesman Tony White, referring to the jirga recommendations. "All aspects of this are in line with what NATO and ISAF want," he added at news conference in Kabul.
In a related development, Afghanistan's intelligence chief and interior minister resigned Sunday to take responsibility for allowing militants to elude a massive security operation and launch an attack on the jirga. Karzai's office said in a statement that he had accepted the resignations of Interior Minister Hanif Atmar and National Directorate of Security chief Amrullah Saleh because the explanation they gave for last Wednesday's attack was "not satisfactory." At least two Taleban militants fired rockets at the conference, then engaged in a gunbattle with security forces near the venue. None of the 1,500 delegates was hurt. The militants were killed.
Meanwhile, five NATO soldiers were killed Sunday in attacks and an accident, the alliance said in a statement. "Three ISAF service members died today as a result of a vehicle accident in southern Afghanistan," the statement said. "In a separate operation, one ISAF service member died today following an improvised explosive device attack in southern Afghanistan. Another ISAF service member died today as a result of an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan."
