(1 Jun 2005)
1. Wide of bus arriving carrying released prisoners
2. Close up of man looking out of bus window
3. Crowd of relatives waiting for bus
4. Prisoners disembarking bus
5. Men being led to meeting tent
6. Wide of meeting, with speaker UPSOUND
7. Cutaway of audience
8. Close up of one man listening
9. Wide of meeting with former prisoners being given money by Afghan officials
10. SOUNDBITE (Pashtu) Jalal Khan, released prisoner:
"I did not see the sun or the sky for two years, and for five to six months I could tell the time of the morning and evening prayers."
11. Crowd of relatives greeting released prisoners
12. Two men greeting each other inside car
13. Man greeting man in car
14. More of relatives greeting former prisoners
15. Car carrying former prisoner leaving
16. People watching former prisoner leave
STORYLINE
The U.S. military released 53 Afghans from its jails in Afghanistan on Wednesday after deciding that they posed no threat, American officials said.
The men were brought from the main American base at Bagram and another U.S. base in the southern city of Kandahar and released in the capital Kabul.
Colonel James Yonts, the U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan, said the 53 were "low-level combatants" who committed hostile acts against civilians, Afghan forces and U.S.-led coalition forces.
American forces have detained thousands of people since entering Afghanistan in 2001 to oust the former Taliban government and end the country's role as a haven and training ground for al-Qaida militants.
Most have been released, but many have spent years in U.S. jails in Afghanistan or at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
One man said that for months at a time he was unable to tell what time of day it was.
The release came days after President Hamid Karzai called for the custody of all Afghan prisoners in US detention following an outcry over a report of prisoner abuse.
The U.S. military has said it would not tolerate any maltreatment.
It was not immediately clear how many Afghans are still in U.S. military detention.
One month ago, 85 other prisoners were released.
There was no official apology for the 53 released on wednesday.
Officials handed each of the former prisoners 10,000 Afghanis (US$234; euro182), and a new turban as well as a letter from the U.S. military confirming their release.
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