A US closure of Guantanamo Bay could deprive militants of a major propaganda tool and help Pakistan in the fight against extremism, analysts said Sunday. Opened in January 2002 after the United States invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban regime for sheltering al Qaeda, the prison detained hundreds of alleged militants without judicial review.
As the United States sought to fend off accusations that tactics at Guantanamo amounted to torture, the prison became fodder for militants who used its imagery to capture young minds and recruit volunteers to drive extremist attacks.
In Pakistan, the kidnappers of US journalist Daniel Pearl demanded the closure of Guantanamo Bay before they beheaded him in 2002. Pictures of open-air cages, inmates wearing orange jump-suits with black bags over their heads and testimony from ex-prisoners about ill-treatment made Guantanamo a symbol of the worst excesses in the US-led "war on terror".
Stories of the Koran being desecrated at the prison sparked furious protests across the Muslim world and deadly riots in Afghanistan. Pakistani government security officials and analysts say the brutal tactics allegedly used against inmates at Guantanamo played strongly into the hands of al Qaeda militants across the globe who used it to further their cause.
"It bore no fruit for the Americans nor did it provide any leads in the war on terror," said Tasnim Noorani, who oversaw the handing of suspects into US custody when serving as a senior interior ministry official from 2000 to 2004. "Instead, the experience converted (inmates) into becoming more hard-line. It gave a boost to those promoting militancy. Images from there and Iraq were good material for handlers to encourage suicide bombers," said Noorani.
"If this is followed up by major policy initiatives to create a better conduct in the war on terror according to accepted principles of justice and human rights, it should produce better results," said Noorani.
One of Pakistan's former Guantanamo inmates, Abdullah Mehsud, went on to lead Taliban insurgents in South Waziristan after being released in March 2004. He later blew himself up to avoid capture in July 2007. Mehsud was wanted by Pakistan authorities over the 2004 kidnapping of two Chinese engineers, his links to al Qaeda and his involvement in launching cross-border attacks on Nato and US forces in Afghanistan.
US and Nato officials say Pakistan's north-west is awash with militants who fled Afghanistan after the 2001 invasion, using lawless tribal areas to regroup and mount attacks on their forces.
Pakistan has also been battered by a wave of attacks that have killed more than 1,500 people in 19 months. An interior ministry official told AFP that 68 Pakistanis were taken to Guantanamo Bay, that 63 have been released and five are still in custody.
"The very fact that the Americans announced they will close down this infamous prison will have a positive effect on efforts to curb militancy," one Pakistani security official told AFP on condition of anonymity. "It will deprive them, the militants, of a tool used to propagate their mission in recruiting suicide bombers," the official said.
Within Pakistan, the government rejects accusations it is not doing enough to tackle the extremist threat. More than 1,500 Pakistani troops have been killed at the hands of Islamists since 2002.
However, one commentator living in Peshawar, the capital of the troubled FATAH tribal belt in north-western Pakistan, said the Taliban were unlikely to face any recruitment problems eight years into a war with momentum of its own. "Many people have died in military operations, security forces have destroyed all the houses along the main road from Bajaur to Mohmand," said Afghan affairs expert Rahimullah Yousafzai.
"People from such families are natural Taliban recruits. Even after Guantanamo closes, the Taliban still can use it is a symbol of injustice to the Muslims," added Yousafzai, who writes for daily newspaper The News.