Afghans free Pakistani prisoners who fought with Taliban

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghan authorities on Tuesday released 87 Pakistani prisoners they said had fought alongside the former Taliban government last year.

The men were handed over to officials at Pakistan's embassy in Kabul and, in the presence of several delegates from the International Committee of the Red Cross, were put on a bus destined for the Pakistan border.

"The majority of them have been with the Taliban. We released them for the ... good relationship of our two countries," said Foreign Ministry official Mohammad Kabir Farahi.

A Foreign Ministry statement said each of the prisoners had been accused of "illegal and subversive actions" and had entered Afghanistan illegally during Taliban-rule.

The detainees, a mixture of old and young, declared their innocence.

"I just came to visit some Afghan friends and they arrested me," said 65-year-old Nazir Khan, who said he spent 14 months in jail.

Another man said he had just arrived in northern Afghanistan when Mazar-e-Sharif fell in November 2001 and he was captured by the then-opposition northern alliance.

"We did not fight," said Alef Khan, 45, who said he was from a village near the Pakistani city of Peshawar.

The Foreign Ministry statement said Pakistan and Afghanistan had reached an agreement earlier this year on "the gradual and conditional release of Pakistani citizens held in Afghan jails."

"The process of release of these individuals will continue and be applicable to those prisoners who are not accused of grave human rights violations or war crimes against Afghanistan," the statement said.

Twelve Pakistanis were released in Kabul earlier this month and other groups have been set free several times this year.

The men were part of an estimated 600 Pakistanis still jailed in Afghanistan. Most were captured when the Taliban force collapsed under heavy air assault by the United States and Britain.

International human rights groups have sharply criticized treatment of prisoners held in Afghanistan, particularly those jailed in northern Afghanistan.