U.S. criticized for not treating POWs according to Geneva

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The 18 Afghans released over the weekend from a U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were finally allowed to return to their homes Tuesday.

The releases have spurred debate surrounding arrests in the U.S. war on terror.

As Washington calls on Iraq to treat American POWs according to the Geneva Conventions, the United States military is coming under fire for maintaining that the convention doesn't apply to prisoners it holds in Afghanistan, at the U.S. island prison in Cuba and at secret locations elsewhere.

American officials regard such detainees as "enemy combatants" rather than prisoners of war. They say the captives are treated in line with the Geneva Conventions, even though that is not legally required since they do not belong to a regular army.

"They're holding thousands of prisoners ... and they've denied them official recognition under the Geneva Conventions," said John Sifton, of the New-York based rights group Human Rights Watch.

Sifton was referring to suspected fighters of the al-Qaida network or the Taliban regime who were detained around the world.

On Saturday, 18 Afghans were flown from Guantanamo Bay to Afghanistan because they were no longer considered a terrorist threat, Afghan officials said.

After being interrogated by Afghan authorities in the capital, Kabul, they were free to go to their homes on Tuesday.

One of the prisoners, 30-year-old Murtaz, said he was captured by U.S.-backed Afghan fighters who were battling the Taliban in November 2001 near the northern city of Kunduz.

"I'm not a Talib but I was forced to (fight) with them," said Murtaz, who like many Afghans uses only one name.

After months in an Afghan prison, Murtaz said he was flown to Guantanamo, confined to an open-air cage and questioned by American officials for hours at a time.

He and the others were released, he said, "because we are innocent."

Sher Gullah, 30, said he was detained in Pakistan in late 2001 while looking for a job there. Pakistani authorities handed him over to Americans and he, too, was sent to Cuba for more than a year.

"I don't know why they arrested me," Gullah said.

Asked if he had ever worked with the Taliban, he quickly became aggravated.

"If I was a member of the Taliban, the Americans would not have released me," he said.