The
prisoners were freed just after 9 a.m. from the Parwan Detention
Facility near Bagram Air Field, about 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of
Kabul, according to prison spokesman Maj. Nimatullah Khaki.
They boarded a bus to leave the facility, laughing and smiling, he said.
The
U.S. has argued for the detainees to face trial in Afghan courts —
citing strong evidence against them, from DNA linking them to roadside
bombs to explosive residue on their clothing — but Kabul has cited
insufficient proof to hold them.
Karzai has referred to the
Parwan prison as a "Taliban-producing factory" where innocent Afghans
are tortured into hating their country.
The U.S. military late
Wednesday night issued a strongly worded statement condemning the
imminent release, which it said would include detainees directly linked
to attacks that have killed or wounded 32 U.S. or coalition personnel
and 23 Afghan security personnel or civilians.
A statement from
the U.S. Embassy in Kabul on Thursday called the release "deeply
regrettable" and called on Karzai's government to ensure those released
do not commit new acts of violence.
"We requested a thorough
review of each case. Instead, the evidence against them was never
seriously considered," the embassy statement said, adding, "The Afghan
government bears responsibility for the results of its decision."
Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman Mohammad Zair Azimi would not comment on U.S concerns.
"Our responsibility is the protection of the prisoners. That is all," Azimi said by telephone.
The
65 were among 88 detainees at the facility that are the subject of
dispute between Kabul and Washington. The U.S. says that they are
dangerous members of the Taliban insurgency, the Haqqani group of
militants and other Islamic radicals bent on fighting foreign and Afghan
government forces.
Among those believed to have walked free
Thursday morning was Mohammad Wali, who the U.S. military says is a
suspected Taliban explosives expert who allegedly placed roadside bombs
targeting Afghan and international forces. The military said Wali had
been biometrically linked to two roadside explosions and had a latent
fingerprint match on another improvised explosive device. He had also
tested positive for explosives residue.
Others in the group
include Nek Mohammad — who the U.S. says was captured with extensive
weapons — and a man identified as Ehsanullah, who is claimed to have
been biometrically matched to a roadside bomb and who tested positive
for explosives residue.
The U.S. military had formally disputed
the prisoners' release, but an Afghan review board had effectively
overruled those challenges.
The detainees' release has been in
the works for weeks, and comes as Karzai has taken an increasingly
hostile tone toward the U.S. ahead of the withdrawal of NATO combat
troops at the end of 2014.
The president has refused to sign a
Bilateral Security Agreement would allow about 10,000 U.S. troops and
about 6,000 from allied nations to remain in Afghanistan past 2014,
largely to help train Afghanistan security forces to take over the fight
against the Taliban and other militants 13 years after the
international military intervention in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001
terror attacks in the U.S. The NATO-backed coalition toppled the
Taliban's regime of hard-line Islamic law for sheltering the al-Qaida
leadership behind the U.S. attacks.
Karzai had tentatively
endorsed the bilateral security deal after it was completed last
October, but after it was approved by a council of tribal elders known
as the Loya Jirga in November, he refused to sign it — saying he wants
his successor to decide about it after the April 5 presidential
election. Karzai cannot run because he is ineligible to serve a third
term.
The U.S. wants the deal signed as soon as possible because
it needs time to prepare to keep thousands of U.S. troops in the country
for up to a decade. NATO allies also have said they won't stay if the
Americans pull out.
In a very provocative Karzai ordered the
detainees released several weeks ago, after his government took over the
prison from U.S. troops. It was reported that OBAMA was not happy with tforces in to the afghan country that decison and planning to send . U.S. forces in Afghanistan say some of the men are
responsible for killing or wounding dozens of international and Afghan
soldiers as well making bombs that have killed civilians.
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Afghanistan have decided to release 65 most dangerous inmates amid objection from the united states
