The National Radio and Television of Afghanistan, under the Taliban’s control, reported that Abdul Ghafar Saber and Abdul Karim, two former Taliban prisoners at Guantanamo prison, arrived in Kabul on Monday morning.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Interior stated that these individuals had been imprisoned at Guantanamo for 14 years.
Abdul Matin Qane, a spokesperson for the Taliban Ministry of Interior, announced on Sunday that these two individuals had also been "under surveillance" in Oman for seven years.
Prisoner Identities
According to the spokesperson for the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior, Mullah Abdul Ghafar Saber is from Logar province. He was arrested by American soldiers in May 2002 and transferred from Bagram to Guantanamo four months later.
It has been reported that Saber was transferred from Guantanamo to Oman in January 2017 and was under surveillance in this country without travel permission for seven years.
Qane stated that the return of these two individuals was the result of the Taliban's efforts.
According to information released by the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior, the second individual, Abdul Karim, is a native of the Tanai district in Khost province. This Taliban member had been arrested by Pakistani security forces in August 2002 and handed over to the Americans after several months.
Abdul Karim was transferred to Guantanamo prison in early 2003 and, after 14 years, was released from this prison and transferred to Oman. Abdul Karim, too, has been "under surveillance" in Oman without travel permission for the past seven years.
Following the international coalition's attack on Afghanistan led by the USA in October 2001, many Taliban members were arrested and transferred to Guantanamo prison.
Since the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban have consistently released news about the release of their members from American prisons.
The group previously announced the release of Bashar Noorzai, a major drug trafficker and a figure close to the Taliban leadership, from a prison in the USA.
Earlier, Asadullah Haroon, a Taliban member, was also released from Guantanamo prison after 15 years.