WASHINGTON, Feb 6: The US military released 27 Afghans who were captured in a raid two weeks ago north of Kandahar after determining they were neither Taliban nor Al Qaeda as had been previously suspected, a Pentagon spokesman said on Wednesday.

The Pentagon stopped short of acknowledging US special forces made a mistake in a raid on Jan 24 in Hazar Kadam that left as many as 18 people dead.

Pentagon spokesman Richard McGrath said 27 people who were captured in the raid were released on Wednesday following an investigation.

“They were neither Al Qaeda nor Taliban so they were turned over to the provisional government,” he said.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters it was “a bridge too far” to conclude that none of those killed and wounded in the attack were Taliban or Al Qaeda men.

“It is a very complicated situation on the ground, which we all know,” Rumsfeld said. “We’ve gotten into the habit of talking about — and I do it as well — they are either good guys or bad guys, they are either Taliban or Al Qaeda, or anti-Taliban or anti-Al Qaeda forces. Life is not quite like that,” he added.

“People don’t fall into neat baskets, they fall across the spectrum. How anyone would identify people at any given moment is not simple. It’s complex,” he said.—AFP