Karzai orders review of Afghan detentions

Afghan President Hamid Karzai delivers a speech to conclude the three-day ''peace jirga'' assembly in Kabul June 4, 2010.

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday ordered a review of all cases of suspected insurgents in jails in Afghanistan and called for the release of those being held without sufficient evidence.

The declaration, issued in the form of a presidential decree, is being viewed as Karzai's first step toward implementing one of several recommendations made at a peace conference last week aimed at bringing an end to a war now almost nine years old.

More than 1,500 Afghan tribal and religious elders gathered last week in a three-day traditional "jirga," or tribal council, in Kabul, where they agreed to open negotiations with the Taliban and other insurgent groups in a bid to bring peace.

The jirga also called on the Afghan government and foreign troops in the country "as a gesture of goodwill," to free those prisoners being held "on inaccurate information or substantiated allegations."

Hundreds of suspected insurgents have been lingering in Afghan jails across the country since the Taliban were ousted in late 2001 and hundreds more are being held at U.S. military prisons in Afghanistan, including the main U.S. jail at Bagram.

On Sunday, Karzai ordered the creation of a delegation, headed by the justice minister, to investigate those detainees being held in prisons in the "capital and in the provinces," his palace said in a statement.

"The delegation will study prisoners' cases and will release those detainees where there is a lack of evidence against them," Karzai's palace said.

While it was not immediately clear whether the delegation would review detainees held at U.S. prisons and other foreign military bases in the country, NATO's top civilian spokesman in Afghanistan said they would cooperate with the government.

"NATO and ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) stands ready to work with the government in turning these recommendations into implemented peace plans," said spokesman Tony White, referring to the jirga recommendations.

"All aspects of this are in line with what NATO and ISAF want," he added at news conference in Kabul.

The issue of Afghan prisoners being held in U.S. and foreign jails in Afghanistan has caused friction between Karzai and his Western backers and the president had previously called for an end to foreign detentions on Afghan soil.

In a sign the United States was changing its approach to detentions in Afghanistan, however, last week the first four Afghan detainees at the main U.S. prison in Bagram north of Kabul, appeared before an Afghan judge.

The detainees were given defense lawyers for the first time and were read their charges by an Afghan prosecutor. Previously, prisoners at Bagram did not have lawyers or trials.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Editing by David Fox)