Afghanistan on Thursday released a group of what U.S. forces have described as “dangerous” prisoners from a maximum security prison. The move is seen likely to further erode relations between the two countries.

U.S. forces describe the 65 detainees released from Parwan prison near Bagram Air Base as “dangerous individuals” who have killed Afghan men, women and children, as well as coalition soldiers.

In a strongly worded statement, U.S. Forces – Afghanistan said both American and Afghan forces had risked their lives to ensure the safety of the Afghan people, and called upon the government to consider the potentially lethal effects of the releases.

But Abdul Basir Azizi, spokesman for the Afghan attorney general, defended the move.

He said nobody inside or outside Afghanistan’s borders has the right to guide the Afghan attorney general on the laws of his own country. He said, according to the law, these people have not committed a crime, and it is the attorney general’s responsibility to release them.

The U.S. Forces statement said they had provided hard evidence or strong investigative leads on the prisoners to the Attorney General’s office.

It added that individuals previously released had already returned to fighting.

Afghanistan took over control of Bagram prison from U.S. forces last year as international forces began their transition out of the country. The prison has been renamed Parwan.

The freeing of the detainees will likely further aggravate what has already become a tense relationship between Washington and the government of President Hamid Karzai.

Karzai has become increasingly publicly critical of the United States and most recently refused to sign a pivotal bilateral security agreement with Washington.

Legal professor Wadir Safi, speaking in Kabul, voiced his criticism of the release.

“They should have been processed, through the normal procedure of justice,“ said he.

According to U.S. forces, more than two dozen prisoners had been linked to the production of lethal homemade bombs – a leading killer in Afghanistan.

Source: VOA