US forces in Afghanistan released 53 prisoners no longer considered a threat on Wednesday, saying their freedom was a sign of peace and progress, but at least one of those set free said he had been abused. The release came days after President Hamid Karzai called for custody of all Afghan prisoners in US detention following an outcry over a report of prisoner abuse. "This is a gesture of friendship with the government of Afghanistan and a sign of peace that symbolises continued progress towards a united Afghanistan," US military spokesman Colonel Jim Yonts told a news conference.
The "low-level combatants" had been detained for attacks on civilians, US-led or Afghan government forces, he said. The men, all Afghans, were being set free from US bases at Bagram, near Kabul.
The United States is holding more than 500 prisoners from its war on terrorism at the Guantanamo Bay naval base on Cuba. Many of them were detained in Afghanistan after the Taleban overthrow in late 2001.
US forces are also believed to be holding several hundred Afghans in Afghanistan.
Karzai's call for the return of detainees came after The New York Times last month reported details of abuse of Afghan detainees in 2002, including the deaths of two inmates at Bagram.
The details were contained in a 2,000-page file of US army investigators, the newspaper said.
But in response to Karzai's call, the United States said Afghanistan must have proper detention facilities before prisoners are turned over.
The 53 men were later brought to a government building in Kabul and presented with clothes and some cash before being released.
Reporters were able to speak to some of them briefly and one said he had faced abuse. Two said they had been treated well.
"They used to torture us, they beat us," said former detainee Haji Abdul Basir, 41.
"For 23 months we didn't see the sun" he said.
"I was in prison for six months," said Nawab, who said he was only 15. "They behaved well with me.
The United States commands a foreign force in Afghanistan of about 18,300, most of them American, fighting Taleban insurgents and hunting militant leaders, including Osama bin Laden.