KABUL, July 4: Fifty-nine Afghan citizens being held at Guantanamo Bay for suspected involvement with the Taliban and Al Qaeda will be released and return home in the coming weeks, an official said on Tuesday.

Thirty men who were held by the US military at Bagram Air Base — north of Kabul — were released meanwhile on Monday, said Mohammad Akram, from a government-appointed group working on reconciliation.

Another 30 were due to freed from Bagram next week, he said.

The 59 would be returned from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba in batches within the next few weeks, he said.

“The people set to come from Guantanamo had (committed) minor crimes. They’ll be released soon after they arrive in the country,” Mr Akram told AFP. “It will take few weeks, perhaps two to three weeks,” he said.

The releases were part of a government programme under which the United States has agreed to send home all 96 Afghan nationals being held in Guantanamo.—AFP