In other news, the US military has released seventeen new prisoners from Guantanamo Bay. The prisoners — sixteen Afghans and one Iranian — all arrived in Afghanistan on Thursday. At a news conference in Kabul, the newly-freed Dr. Khan Jan described his ordeal.

Dr. Khan Jan: “They were treating us like animals, they were not treating us as human beings, they were too cruel, their behavior was not imaginable, they were punishing us very badly like animals.”

Another prisoner, twenty-year old Habib Rahman, said he was tortured as recently as four months ago. He said: “They were kicking us all the time, beating us with their hands.” On one occasion, Rahman said he was interrogated for thirty-eight hours without sleep. Also speaking Thursday was freed prisoner Mohammad Nasim.

Mohammad Nasim: “Their (American) Behavior was against Islam, against our Koran, three Arab prisoner died during prosecution and searching, the life conditions were very bad.”