The Obama administration late Tuesday announced the release of five Guantanamo Bay detainees to Kazakhstan, the latest step in President Obama’s quest to close the detention facility in Cuba.
The three inmates from Yemen and two from Tunisia had been cleared for release years ago but the administration struggled to find a way to move them to another country.
“As directed by the president’s Jan. 22, 2009, executive order, the interagency Guantanamo Review Task Force conducted a comprehensive review of this case,” the Pentagon said. “As a result of that review, which examined a number of factors, including security issues, these men were unanimously approved for transfer by the six departments and agencies comprising the task force.”
Asim Thabit Abdullah Al-Khalaqi, Muhammad Ali Husayn Khanayna, Sabri Muhammad Ibrahim Al Qurashi, Adel Al-Hakeemy and Abdullah Bin Ali Al-Lufti were the first Gitmo inmates transferred to Kazakhstan.
The prisoner transfer brings the total number of prisoners remaining at Guantanamo Bay to 127.
Obama has failed to shutter the prison facility as promised when he took office, due in large part to stiff Republican resistance on Capitol Hill.
As part of his year of aggressive executive action, Obama has approved more transfers from Gitmo in 2014 than any other period during his presidency.
“I’m going to be doing everything I can to close it,” Obama told CNN’s “State of the Union” in recent weeks. “It is something that continues to inspire jihadists and extremists around the world, the fact that these folks are being held. It is contrary to our values and it is wildly expensive.”
Yet, some argue the president isn’t moving quickly enough.
Cliff Sloan, the State Department’s envoy for closing Guantanamo, resigned last week, citing frustration with the pace of the transfers.
