Pentagon: 3 Afghans Among 15 Guantanamo Bay Detainees Sent To UAE
MEP: The Pentagon has announced that 15 Guantanamo Bay detainees have been transferred to the United Arab Emirates, the largest single transfer during President Barack Obama’s administration.
The transfer of 12 Yemenis and three Afghans from the Cuba facility to the U.A.E. leaves 61 detainees, a significant drop from the 242 men imprisoned there in 2009 when Mr. Obama took office but short of the president’s longtime goal of closing the lockup.
While it appears increasingly unlikely that President Obama will succeed in closing the prison before he leaves office in January, the transfer brought him significantly closer to another goal: getting out every detainee who has been approved for transfer. Some have been stranded on that list for years because they could not be repatriated.
“The United States is grateful to the government of the United Arab Emirates for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing US efforts to close” Guantanamo, the Pentagon said in a statement on Monday.
Mr Obama believes Guantanamo Bay fuels the recruitment of jihadists and creates stronger anti-US feelings.
In April, nine Yemeni prisoners were sent to Saudi Arabia.
