Some Afghan prisoners of war pray at the Afghan supreme court in Kabul, April 19, 2005.

A batch of 17 Afghans, released from the US Navy detention center at Guantanamo Bay, was handed over to local authorities on Tuesday.

All the prisoners between 30 to 50 years old, who arrived in Afghanistan Monday, had been held on the charge of having links with the former fundamentalist regime of Taliban, which was ousted by US-led military invasion in late 2001.

It is not clear if these men will face charges at home or be set free. But previous groups had been released on condition they will not rejoin the militias fighting the government.

Some prisoners told journalists that they were treated badly in the detention center. Recalling his memories at jail, Abdul Raham from southern Zabul province said that they had been kept in poor condition and he cannot explain by few words.

Abdul Rahim Qalamdost, who claimed to be a journalist and spent two and a half years at Guantanamo Bay, said that he would write a book about his memories at US detention centers at home and abroad.

US army, Afghan troops as well as Pakistani law enforcing agencies have arrested thousands of people on charge of backing Taliban and al-Qaida and took hundreds of them to Guantanamo Bay for investigation.

The US military has so far released some 200 detainees with majority of whom Afghans from Guantanamo Bay, while 120 Afghan nationals have been languishing at the notorious prison.