Two ex-Guantanamo prisoners released after 20 years

The last two Afghan detainees of notorious Guantanamo Bay have finally returned to Afghanistan after 22 years. The two Taliban members were arrested by the US forces in 2002 and later in 2014, they were transferred to Oman as prisoners. The Taliban announced that the Omani government had lifted restrictions on Abdul Zahir Sabir and Abdul Karim.

Afghanistan’s Interim Interior Ministry spokesman, Mufti Abdul Mateen said that the two detainees were shifted to an unspecified location in Oman in 2017 and they were under house arrest.

Sabir from Hisarak district of Logar province was arrested in May 2002 and held at Bagram prison under the control of US troops in Parwan province and later shifted to Guantanamo in October 2002. He was in Bagram prison for four months and later imprisoned in Guantanamo prison for 15 years.

Two ex-prisoners released from the US-run Guantanamo prison get off a plane in Kabul, Afghanistan, Feb. 12, 2024. (Xinhua)

It has been reported that Sabir was arrested by the US forces in connection with terrorist attacks and having a relationship with the al-Qaeda network.

Both the Taliban members were accused of having links with al-Qaeda

Abdul Karim is another Taliban member who was transferred to Kabul on Monday and he is originally from Khost province.

Karim was arrested by the Pakistani security forces in 2003 and he spent several months in prison in Pakistan and later handed over to the US forces based in Kabul and eventually ended up behind bars in Guantanamo Bay.

Karim spent 14 years in Guantanamo Bay and then was transformed to Oman. The reason for his arrest was over his involvement in terrorist attacks and has a relationship with the al-Qaeda network.

Videos and pictures of the two ex-prisoners had been widely circulated in social media, and showed the two donned in white shalwar-kameez (loose trousers and shirt) and sporting black turbans while they took off from the airplane at the Kabul International Airport.

Sabir’s son Mohammad Osman said that with the grace of (Allah the Almighty) and the efforts of the Taliban leaderships, his father had finally returned back to his home.

“It was like Eid for me when I saw my father at the Kabul airport,” Osman said, adding that he is “very happy today.”

US forces detained hundreds of people in its so-called campaign on war on terror in Afghanistan

The two had returned to the VIP area of the airport and were escorted by the Taliban officials. Meanwhile billboards welcoming them were also erected on the road to the airport and also the Taliban security forces-maintained security measurements.

Billboards welcoming the two detainees erected on the road to the airport

The detainees were among the hundreds of suspected militants captured by US forces during their so-called war on terror in Afghanistan.

US authorities has been blamed for misbehaving, including torture and abuse against prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay. It has been also reported that many people were held in the jail without charge or the legal power to challenge the detention.

However, the US had released most of the Taliban leaders in the past several years, and this one considered the last two detainees of the Taliban members that were released.

Only one prisoner is still believed to be in Guantanamo Bay and his family identified him as Mohammad Rahim, and asked for his immediate release.

Taliban condemns Israel attacks in Gaza

At the same time, Taliban has condemned Monday’s morning Israeli attacks on Rafah city in the south of Gaza and said that the continuation of these attacks will increase the current crisis in Gaza.

“Following four months of brutal attacks on the north and south of the Palestinian Gaza Strip, last day the Zionist colonisers brutally attacked the town of Rafah, where over one the ongoing genocide in Gaza and occupied Palestine, and find ways to a fundamental solution to this case,” Taliban foreign ministry said in a statement.

The continued genocide in Gaza has posed serious questions to the current international order and its values, and this genocide of the century will further erode the flimsy credibility of international organizations and humanitarian conventions, the statement read.