KABUL — Afghan President Hamid Karzai ordered a review on Sunday of the cases of Taliban-linked prisoners and other militants and said those held without grounds should be released.
Following up on a "peace jirga" held in Kabul last week, Karzai's office said the justice minister would head a committee to oversee investigation of cases of "persons in detention for links with the armed opposition.
"The committee shall conduct a comprehensive review of the cases and release those held without legally binding evidence of conviction, and report back to the president," the statement said.
However it did not specify if the review covered inmates at US-run detention facilities. Presidential spokesman Hamid Elmi told AFP the committee would start its work with Afghan-run prisons.
The Afghan leader hosted a gathering of around 1,600 delegates in a tent in Kabul last week hailed by the West as a sign of the country's growing political maturity, despite a rocket attack on the event.
The closing resolution included a call for the release of prisoners detained without evidence of their links to insurgents.
