The Afghan government on Thursday said that it's going to release all but 16 of 88 prisoners considered a security threat by the United States.
In a statement Thursday, Karzai says that a review of the prisoners' cases by Afghan intelligence and judicial officials turned up no evidence of wrongdoing for 45 of the detainees. Karzai says there was insufficient evidence on another 27 and that they must be released.
The US is strongly opposed to their release, saying the detainees have Afghan and US bloods on their hands.
"These 72 detainees are dangerous criminals against whom there is strong evidence linking them to terror-related crimes, including the use of improvised explosive devices, the largest killer of Afghan civilians," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a news briefing Thursday.
When asked about whether releasing the inmates lowers the chance that a security deal will ultimately be signed Psaki would only say that "time will tell."
President Karzai's spokesman, Aimal Faizi, said there is no evidence against 45 of the 88 prisoners and the evidence against another 27 is too little to be enough to warrant a trial.
"We cannot allow innocent Afghan citizens to be kept in detention for months and years without a trial for no reason at all," Faizi told Reuters Thursday. "We know that unfortunately this has been happening at Bagram, but it is illegal and a violation of afghan sovereignty and we cannot allow this anymore."
The remaining 16 detainees will stay in custody until their cases can be reviewed further, the Afghan government said in a statement.
The US wants all 88 to face trial and releasing them without trial is "undermining the judiciary".
More than 600 detainees have already been released from Bagram prison, which is renamed as Parwiz facility.