23 August 2004	Monday	06 Rajab 1425

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ISLAMABAD, Aug 22: The US authorities have permitted the Afghan government to release Pakistani prisoners languishing in different jails for their alleged links with Taliban, a source in the interior ministry told Dawn on Sunday.

The source said the prisoners had been thoroughly screened by US security personnel in Afghanistan. "Earlier the US authorities were reluctant to allow the release of Pakistani prisoners because US forces were not clearing them, but now they have agreed to the repatriation," the source said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is arriving here on Monday on a two-day visit at the invitation of President Pervez Musharraf, has already announced the release of the prisoners.

It is expected that the prisoners would be released soon after President Karzai's visit, the source said. Meanwhile, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat said that a batch of Pakistani prisoners detained in Guantanamo Bay would also be returning home soon.

He said that arrangements for repatriating the prisoners had been completed. About Pakistani prisoners in Afghanistan, the minister said that all the formalities for their return had been finalized with the Afghan government.