Last Afghan prisoner Haji Noorzai freed from Gitmo

KABUL (Pajhwok): Afghan prisoner Haji Bashar Noorzai reached Kabul on Monday, following his release from the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

The state-run Bakhtar News Agency tweeted: “The Last Afghan prisoner in Guantanamo has been released.”

“Haji Bashar Noorzai, the last Afghan in Guantanamo Bay, was released and handed over to IEA authorities at Kabul airport. Noorzai was kept in that jail for around 17 years.”

Nazar Mohammad Motmain, head of the Afghanistan Olympic Committee, tweeted: “Taliban is making history, they released friend Haji Bashar Noorzai after spending 21 years in US prison. They don’t leave their friend alone.”

According to an earlier Pajhwok report, a former member of the provincial council in Kandahar said a close aide to Mullah Mohammad Omar has been released from Guantanamo Bay after 18 years and is currently in Dubai.

Haji Bashar has been a businessman and key member of IEA.

sa/mud