US: Afghan national freed from Guantanamo Bay after 15 years

By MUNIR AHMED
Associated Press

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The U.S. Defense Department says an Afghan prisoner held in U.S. custody for nearly 15 years has been released from the Guantanamo Bay detention center. Friday’s announcement on the release of Asadullah Haroon Gul came hours after the Britain-based Reprieve and the Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter that Gul was now free. Mujahid said Gul was one of the last two Afghan prisoners 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. Photographs of Gul being greeted by senior Taliban officials in Doha, Qatar, following his release were posted on Twitter.