Afghanistan doesn't seem to care much for what the US thinks...

Afghan prisoners freed from Bagram amid US protests

Sixty-five detainees have been released from Afghanistan's high-security Bagram detention centre, a move condemned by the US as "deeply regrettable".

The US embassy in Kabul said some of those released were responsible for the deaths of Afghan civilians, and Afghan and coalition troops.

Kabul, which took over control of Bagram last year, insists there is not enough evidence against the detainees.

The Afghan president said the releases were of "no concern to the US".

Speaking after a summit in the Turkish capital Ankara, Hamid Karzai said the US must stop "harassing" his country's judicial authority and respect Afghanistan's sovereignty.

'Never considered'

The detainees began to emerge from the prison gates in groups of about six on Thursday morning, the BBC's David Loyn in Kabul reports.

Mr Karzai has described the jail as a "Taliban-making factory".

Some were laughing and smiling as they boarded a bus and taxis to leave the facility, which is now called the Parwan Detention Facility and is about 45km (28 miles) north of Kabul.

Our correspondent spoke to one of the freed men, Nurullah, whom US forces accuse of being a Taliban commander responsible for operations that resulted in the death of a US soldier in Logar province.

Sitting in a cafe, eating his first meal in freedom since his capture last March, Nurullah denied the allegation, saying he had been training as a builder.

In a statement, the US embassy said the decision to release the detainees was "deeply regrettable".

"We requested a thorough review of each case. Instead, the evidence against them was never seriously considered," it said.

Washington says one of the men was captured after being wounded during an attack on Afghan forces.

Others were reportedly arrested carrying weapons including shotguns, assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenade-launchers.

The embassy said: "The Afghan government bears responsibility for the results of its decision."

But President Karzai dismissed the criticism.

"Afghanistan is a sovereign country," he told a news conference on Thursday.

"If the Afghan judicial authorities decide to release the prisoners, it is of no concern to the US and should be of no concern to the US."

The US military said some of the other prisoners released since the Afghans took over control of the prison had "already returned to the fight. Additional released detainees may continue to fill the ranks of the insurgency".

The releases mark a new low in relations between Afghanistan and US forces, our correspondent says.

He adds that the decision is a political one taken personally by President Karzai.

The facility, which houses mainly Taliban and other insurgents captured by Western military forces, has been at the centre of a number of prisoner abuse allegations.

The BBC's Yalda Hakim was recently allowed unprecedented access..

She says that, compared to some other Afghan jails, it is state-of-the-art, but some of the inmates have been held for years without trial.

President Karzai told her the facility was where innocent people were "turned against their own country".

He added: "The very presence of this... prison is against the Afghan constitution, against all Afghan laws and against the sovereignty of this country."

Mr Karzai denied US claims that the released prisoners had blood on their hands.

However, the BBC's Bilal Sarwary, in Kabul, says that Afghan military officials have privately admitted that some of these men were involved in militant attacks, and there has been a lot of internal debate within the government.

The US-led international military force in Afghanistan is scheduled to hand over all security duties to Afghan forces by the end of 2014.

However, President Karzai has refused to sign a security deal with Washington that would set the final framework.

If signed, the deal could see some 10,000 US troops remain for a number of years.