BBC Online :
Sixty-five detainees have been released from Afghanistan’s high security Bagram detention centre, a move condemned by the US as “deeply regrettable”.
The US embassy in Kabul said some of those released were responsible for the deaths of Afghan civilians, and Afghan and coalition troops.
Kabul, which took over control of Bagram last year, insists there is not enough evidence against the detainees.
President Hamid Karzai has described the jail as a “Taliban-making factory”.
‘Never considered’
The detainees began to emerge from the prison gates in groups of half a dozen or so on Thursday morning, the BBC’s David Loyn in Kabul reports.
Along with the 65 now released, there are still believed to be around 70 prisoners in Bagram who have the status of EST – Enduring Security Threat.
They were given this description by the US before they were handed over to the jail. There would be strong American protests if these men were released.
But US attempts to prevent this week’s release have failed. They say that the cases were “never seriously considered, including by the attorney general”.
The suspicion is that the decision to release the men was political and not legal, and was taken by President Karzai himself.
Now in his last months in office, he has taken a stridently anti-US line in several recent TV interviews.
Some were laughing and smiling as they boarded a bus and taxis to leave the facility, which is now called the Parwan Detention Facility and is about 45km (28 miles) north of Kabul.
Our correspondent spoke to one of the freed men, Nurullah, who US forces accuse of being a Taliban commander responsible for operations that resulted in the death of a US soldier in Logar province.
Sitting in a cafe, eating his first meal in freedom since his capture last March, Nurullah denied the allegation, saying he had been training as a builder.
In a statement, the US embassy said: “The Government of Afghanistan’s decision to release 65 detainees from the Parwan Detention Center is deeply regrettable.”
It said: “We requested a thorough review of each case. Instead, the evidence against them was never seriously considered.”
