Another 57 Afghans detained as Taleban suspects were freed from US military custody on Saturday under an Afghan government reconciliation programme. The men, who had been held at the US military detention centre at Bagram Air Base north of Kabul, were from a group of 199 due to be freed as part of an effort to encourage rank and file Taleban to lay down their arms.
They were taken to the Kabul office of the Takhim-e-Solh "Strengthening Peace" programme and were to be allowed home under the supervision of tribal elders, a US military statement said, adding that the other 142 would be freed later.
The prisoners were the latest freed after President Hamid Karzai called for custody of all Afghan prisoners in US detention following an outcry over reports of abuse, including the deaths of two inmates at Bagram.
Another 53 were freed in June, 86 in May and 81 in January.
Under the Takhim-e-Solh scheme participants do not receive amnesty but agree to renounce violence and pledge their support to Afghanistan, the US statement said.
The United States also holds more than 500 suspected militants at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, most of whom were picked up in Afghanistan.
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