Cuba, July 23: The United States has transferred two detainees of Afghan origin from its notorious prison at Guantanamo Bay to Spain and Latvia.
The transfer was completed as part of efforts to shut the notorious detention center in Cuba, the Pentagon said, Reuters reported.
This is the third of five detainees that Spain has agreed to resettle.
“The United States coordinated with the governments of Spain and Latvia to ensure the transfers took place under appropriate security measures and will remain in close consultation with both governments regarding these individuals,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
The Defense Department did not identify the detainees under the arrangements made with the host governments. The Spanish Interior Ministry in Madrid said the individual it was accepting was Afghan.
The transfers announced on Thursday brought the number of remaining detainees at Guantanamo to 176, down from 245 when US President Barack Obama took office last year.
Many detainees were captured outside Afghanistan as part of former US President George W. Bush’s so-called “war on terrorism” launched in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks.
After taking office in January 2009, Obama pledged to close the infamous detention center — which opened in January 2002 — by January 2010.
He has failed, however, to keep his promise as the center still remains operational.
——Agencies