The United States on Thursday transferred 16 detainees from the
military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Afghanistan, and one
detainee to Morocco, the Pentagon announced.
With Thursday's transfer, Washington has transferred about 335
detainees from Guantanamo to foreign governments, either for
release or for continued detention.
Approximately 440 detainees remain at Guantanamo.
Of those still being held at the Guantanamo, about 110 have been
determined by the US government as eligible for transfer or release
through a comprehensive series of review processes, the Pentagon
said in a statement.
The Defense Department "expects that there will continue to be
other transfers and releases of detainees," and "a determination
about the continued detention or transfer of a detainee is based on
the best information and evidence available at the time, both
classified and unclassified," it said.
The United States opened the detention facility at its naval
base in Guantanamo in January 2002, to hold terror suspects and
Taliban members mainly captured during the US-led war in
Afghanistan.
(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2006)
