3 Released Afghans Describe Captivity

Three Afghans released after months of captivity at a U.S. military base in Cuba said Tuesday that they were chained up during interrogations and kept in small cells but were treated decently by the Americans.

The two elderly men -- who appeared to be in their 70s -- and a younger man are the first former detainees to discuss their arrest and detainment at Guantanamo Bay. They spoke at a military hospital in Kabul, the Afghan capital, where they were convalescing under the watch of Afghan security guards.

The three were flown from Guantanamo to Afghanistan on Sunday and were handed over to Interior Ministry officials Tuesday. It was not clear when they would be allowed to go home.

The trio, looking frail and tired but in good spirits, said they had not been allowed to contact their families after they were captured by the Americans. They said that they were chained up during frequent interrogations but that they were not mistreated and were allowed to practice their religion.

“They interrogated us for hours at a time. They wanted to know: ‘Where are you from? Are you a member of the Taliban? Did you support the Taliban? Were your relatives Taliban? Did the Taliban give you weapons?’ ” said Mohammed Hagi Fiz, an elderly man with a white beard.

Fiz said he was arrested by U.S. forces eight months ago while he was in a clinic in the central province of Oruzgan.

“I don’t know why the Americans arrested me. I told them I was innocent. I’m just an old man,” he said.

A plastic wristband indicated that the year of Fiz’s birth was 1931, but he claimed to be 105. Another prisoner, Mohammed Sadiq, claimed to be 90 and said he was arrested in the eastern province of Paktia. Many Afghans are not aware of their exact age, and birth certificates usually don’t exist, but both men appeared to be in their 70s.

Sadiq said that he was captured at his home and that the prison conditions were spartan.

“We were held in small cages,” he said. “We were eating and defecating at the same place. We were kept like animals.”

Fiz, however, said the American guards were respectful of him. “They treated us well. We had enough food to eat. We could pray and wash with water five times a day. We had the Koran and read it all the time,” he said.

The third former prisoner, Jan Mohammed, 35, said he was forced to fight alongside the Taliban and was captured last year by Afghan forces and handed over to the Americans.