Afghan national freed from Guantanamo Bay after 15 years

By MUNIR AHMED
Associated Press

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A rights group and Afghanistan’s Taliban say an Afghan prisoner who remained in U.S. custody for nearly 15 years has finally been released from the Guantanamo Bay detention center. Friday’s announcement about the release of Asadullah Haroon Gul came from the Britain-based Reprieve and the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Twitter. Mujahid said Gul was one of the last two Afghan prisoners who were held at Guantanamo Bay. The United States opened the detention center under President George W. Bush in January 2002 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the invasion of Afghanistan. It was intended to hold and interrogate prisoners suspected of having links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.