The prisoner, Asadullah Haroon Gul, also known as Haroon Al Afghanistan, was born in Afghanistan and has been held at Guantanamo since 2007.
“The DOD, supported by other parts of the US government, moved him out of Guantanamo Bay, facilitating his repatriation to his homeland, Afghanistan,” the administration official said. . “He flew on an American plane to Doha and then we worked with the Taliban and the Qatari government to facilitate his move to Kabul.”
The transfer also comes as the Taliban leadership in the country has prevented girls above 6th grade from attending school, and as the country faces an economic and food crisis that is expected to kill thousands of people died.
US diplomats working at the US office on Afghan affairs in Doha joined Taliban officials on the topic – which they see as an area of mutual interest – to learn logistics on how to do this, the official explained. The official said there has not been any higher-level involvement with the Taliban.
Gul, an Afghan citizen who grew up in a refugee camp in Shamshato, Pakistan, is accused of being a member of an extremist group called Hezb-e-Islami/Gulbuddin, then known as HIG. Since then, it has been known as Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan (HIA). The HIA is considered by the US government to be the “aligning force” of al Qaeda.
Gul admitted that he was a member of HIG, now known as HIA, at the time, but his defense lawyers argued that the group entered into a peace treaty with the Afghan government in 2016.
Gul has been detained at Guantanamo since June 2007.
“A court has made a decision that we need to move this individual somewhere and the most viable, most realistic option in general is repatriation and here it looks like it might prove a no-brainer. proving to be repatriation,” said a source familiar with the matter.
Several factors have influenced the authorities’ efforts to repatriate Gul to Afghanistan, even as the Taliban now control the country. One of those factors: no American troops remained in Afghanistan after the US withdrew from the country last fall.
The Taliban also provided assurances to the US government that Gul would not emerge as a threat to the US homeland or to US allies, the US official said.
“We’ve had conversations about the importance of this individual not posing a threat to the United States or to our allies. We’ve got reassurances back,” the official said. said.
The transfer of Gul to Afghanistan comes as tensions between the US and the Taliban remain high for Mark Frerichs, a veteran and contractor who was kidnapped in Kabul in late January 2020, allegedly by a network Haqqani, a close affiliate holds. of the Taliban.
“We also have to find a way to bring Mark home. We are working hard. We hope to have good news in the next few weeks to bring him home,” the official explained.
The Periodic Review Board, the body that first determined that Gul should be released, is a government organization created during the Obama administration to determine whether prison inmates have committed crimes. are not. The Biden administration continues to rely on the board to decide which prisoners should be sent home.
With Gul’s transfer, 36 detainees remained in the prison, with more than a dozen transferred.
“They will continue to work hard to do what comes after those recommendations, which is to reach countries whether their country of origin or where it is not feasible or available or recommending other countries. and seek to come up with repatriation or transfer arrangements that both parties are satisfied with,” explained the source familiar with the matter.
CNN’s Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.
