The United States military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba released four Afghanistan prisoners on Saturday due to President Barack Obama's push to slowly close the prison, according to The New York Times.
The four prisoners had been jailed at the prison since 2003, almost more than a decade, according to Slate.
The four released prisoners are Shawali Khan, Khi Ali Gul, Abdul Ghani and Mohammed Zahir, who were originally detained on suspicion of being members of the Taliban or affiliated groups, the Telegraph reported.
During Saturday night, the men were flown to Kabul on a U.S. military plan and released back to Afghanistan officials, the first transfer of its type in Afghanistan since 2009, according to the Times.
The prisoners had been severely misrepresented, some of which had been reportedly believed to be intelligence officials to the taliban and weapons suppliers to the Taliban, Slate reported.
One of the ex-prisoners named Abdul Ghani was believed to have committed war crimes and was going to be charged for them in a different war crimes trials, according to Slate.
Mohammad Zahir, another former detainee, had been called a top intelligence official and a weapons supplier, Telegraph reported.
Washington ran the request through after new Afghan president Ashraf Ghani asked for the transfer, according to the Associated Press. Ghani took over from former Afghan president Hamid Karzai in September.
The U.S. Embassy in Kabul released a statement saying they have "full confidence in the Afghan government's ability to mitigate any threats these individuals may pose and to ensure that they are given humane treatment, the AP reported.
According to the Embassy, the transfer "demonstrates Afghan sovereignty and U.S. trust in the strength of Afghan government institutions," the statement said.
Eight more Afghanistan remain at the prison, and a total of 132 prisoners remain in total, the AP reported. The rest of those eight have also been requested for release by the Afghan government.
