AFGHANISTAN: Three Afghans released after months of captivity at a US military base in Cuba yesterday said they were chained during frequent interrogations but generally treated well by their American captors.
The men - two of whom appeared to be in their late 70s - are the first former detainees to speak about their arrest and detention.
They spoke at a military hospital in Kabul where they are convalescing, still under the watch of Afghan security guards.
The men were flown to Afghanistan on Sunday, and were yesterday handed to Interior Ministry officials. It was not clear when they would be allowed to return home.
A Pakistani man, Mr Mohammed Saghir (60), was also released from the Guantanamo Bay prison and returned to Pakistan. He was being questioned by Pakistani authorities in Islamabad.
The group of four were the first prisoners released by the Americans, who determined that they no longer posed a threat.
They said they were chained during frequent interrogations by Americans, but that they were not mistreated and were allowed to practise their religion while in detention.
"They interrogated us for hours at a time. They wanted to know, `Where are you from? Are you a member of the Taliban? Did you support the Taliban? Were your relatives Taliban? Did the Taliban give you weapons?'," said an elderly former prisoner with a white beard, Mr Mohammed Hagi Fiz.
Human rights groups have criticised the United States for its treatment of the prisoners, saying they were initially kept in outdoor cages and held indefinitely without access to lawyers.
Another former prisoner, Mr Jan Mohammed (35), said he was forced to fight with the Taliban and was captured in the northern city of Kunduz last year by Afghan forces and handed over to the Americans. "I wasn't Taliban, but the Taliban made me fight with them," Mr Mohammed said."I'm innocent. I'm a farmer."
A frail older man, Mr Fiz said he was tied up and blindfolded, then flown by helicopter to Kandahar and later by plane to Guantanamo.
"I don't know why the Americans arrested me. I told them I was innocent. I'm just an old man," he said.
Meanwhile, military investigators determined that a US army special forces soldier was killed by "friendly fire" from a US Air Force AC-130 gunship in Afghanistan in March and not by al-Qaeda mortar fire as originally thought.
Officials said a draft report of the investigation into the March 2nd incident found that the man and three Afghan troops were killed by the gunship southeast of Gardez. - (AP, Reuters)