Taliban thinks the closing of Guantanamo is a ‘positive step’

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   The Taliban has said that Barack Obama’s plan to close the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is a ‘positive step.’ A day after he took office, Obama ordered the closure of the prison at Guantanamo where prisoners have been detained for years without having charges brought against them. Some of the prisoners were subjected to interrogation methods that human rights groups say are tantamount to torture. Obama, though, has ordered a full review of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan where he has vowed to increase the number of soldiers and take the initiative against the growing insurgency by the Taliban.
   
   The Taliban said in a message posted on Islamist websites that peace would only be possible if U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan. “The intention of Obama to close the detention center at Guantanamo is a positive step towards peace and stability in the region and the world,” the message states, adding, “You must completely withdraw all forces from two occupied Islamic countries (Afghanistan and Iraq).” The Taliban were overthrown from power in 2001 by the United States-led invasion of Afghanistan.
   
   The Taliban message stresses that Obama should reverse the policies of former president George W. Bush in Afghanistan and the Islamic world: “If Obama is right and, in his words, he wants to open a new page based on peaceful interaction and mutual respect with the Islamic world, the first thing he should do is to halt and cancel all those procedures, which were created according to the criminal policy of Bush,” says the text. Obama has appointed former ambassador to the UN, Richard Holbrooke, as the first U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, a region that Obama said is the “central front” in the fight against terrorism.

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