13 September 2004	Monday	27 Rajab 1425

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PUL-I-CHARKI, Sept 12: Hundreds of Pakistanis who fought alongside the Taliban against US led forces after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the United States were released from an Afghan jail on Sunday after nearly three years as prisoners of war.

The 368 prisoners, the last of more than 2,500 Pakistanis captured during the overthrow of the Taliban, were being driven by bus 250km to Peshawar for screening by Pakistani authorities.

"We are glad that their ordeal is finally over," said Pakistani embassy third secretary Zafar Ali Khan. "We have been trying to get access to them for a long time. We believe there has been no need to have kept them for so long in Afghan jails."

The prisoners, ranging in age from 22 to 60, were captured as the Taliban disintegrated in the face of the US-led invasion that drove the Taliban from power in November 2001.

Many had been drawn to Afghanistan from madrassahs in Pakistan. In September 2002, Dostum issued a formal statement acknowledging that "approximately 200 prisoners died, but mostly of wounds suffered in the fighting, disease, suffocation, suicide and general weakness".

Afriqi showed Reuters scars on his chest he said came from wounds caused by being whipped with electric cable. The prisoners said the past 18 months of their captivity had been much better than the initial stage. -Reuters