PESHAWAR, May 20: Counterterrorism experts and government officials will soon travel to Guantanamo Bay to see the conditions under which Pakistanis are detained at the high-security US detention prison, a Cabinet minister said on Saturday.

“We recently sought consular access to our people detained at Guantanamo Bay and America has accepted this request,” Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao told reporters in Peshawar.

He said the officials will also travel to Afghanistan to see how many Pakistanis are still detained there.

However, Mr Sherpao gave no dates for the visits.

Thousands of Pakistanis crossed into Afghanistan to fight during the US-led attacks that toppled the Taliban regime in late 2001.

Although some were captured by coalition forces and sent to Guantanamo, scores of others were locked up in Afghan prisons, and they have not been freed despite Pakistani requests, Mr Sherpao said.

Pakistan was a key supporter of the Taliban, but switched its support after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks and since then has backed Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government.

However, Afghan officials often say Islamabad is not doing enough to stop remnants of the Taliban from using its soil for attacks inside Afghanistan.

Islamabad denies the charge and says it is doing whatever possible to stop any militant movement along the Pakistan-Afghan border, where it has deployed about 80,000 troops. —AP