Two Afghans held in U.S. custody at the Guantanamo Bay detention center for at least 14 years after 2002 have been released and will return to Afghanistan, according to the Taliban leadership.
Abdul Zahir Saber and Abdul Karim were released from house arrest in Oman as a result of the efforts made by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Taliban interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Qani said.
The two prisoners were transferred from Guantanamo Bay to Oman in 2017 and continued the remaining seven years of jail time under house arrest.
Senior Taliban officials posted photographs of Saber and Karim on social media with messages of congratulations. An official welcome ceremony is being organized in the capital, Kabul, for their return on Monday, Qani said.
The United States opened the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba, under President George W. Bush in January 2002 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the invasion of Afghanistan to capture al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. It was intended at the time to hold and interrogate those suspected of having links to al-Qaida or the Taliban, who had sheltered bin Laden.
However, scores of suspects from multiple countries were later sent there, and the detention center became notorious after reports emerged of detainees being humiliated and tortured.
Saber, who was originally from the province of Logar, was arrested by American forces on May 10, 2002, Qani said. In October of that year, after four months in Bagram prison just outside Kabul, Saber was transferred to Guantanamo.
“As a result of the efforts of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, after many years in prison and imposed restrictions will be removed, he will return to his homeland,” said Qani.
Karim, a resident of the Tani district of Khost province in the east, was arrested in Pakistan on Aug. 14, 2002. After a few months in prison there, he was handed over to American forces.
He was moved to Guantanamo Bay in early 2003 and then to Oman in 2017.
Afghanistan Under the Taliban
The Taliban, a terrorist group, took power in Afghanistan in August 2021 after the chaotic U.S. troop removal, leaving behind many victims and billions worth of military equipment to a terrorist organization. The Taliban rule drove millions into poverty and hunger after foreign aid stopped almost overnight. Sanctions against the Taliban rulers, a halt on bank transfers, and billions frozen in Afghanistan’s currency reserves have cut off access to global institutions and the outside money that supported the aid-dependent economy before the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces.
Human Rights Watch, a New York-based watchdog, said recently that Afghanistan’s public health system has been hit hard following a sharp reduction in foreign assistance, coupled with severe Taliban abuses against women and girls.
In 2023, the World Food Program warned that malnutrition rates in Afghanistan were at a record high, with half the country suffering from severe hunger throughout the year.
“Women and girls have been disproportionately affected by the healthcare crisis, particularly because of Taliban abuses,” said the report.
The Taliban have barred women from most areas of public life and work and stopped girls from going to school beyond the sixth grade as part of harsh measures they imposed after taking power.
Taliban restrictions on women’s freedom of movement and employment have gravely limited their access to health services, the HRW report said. At the same time, bans on education have blocked almost all training of future female healthcare workers in the country.
“The cost of treatment and medicine has put care out of reach for many Afghans,” the report said.
While Afghans living in poverty have always faced difficulties obtaining health care because of costs, a rising number now struggle to pay for food and are often unable to cover the price of medicines and transportation to reach health services.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
