Afghanistan released 65 prisoners from the Parwan detention facility yesterday despite protests from the US military, which alleged that the men were Taliban fighters who will likely return to the battlefield.

The US embassy in Kabul called the release “deeply regrettable” and demanded that President Hamid Karzai’s government ensure that those released did not commit new acts of violence.

“We requested a thorough review of each case. Instead, the evidence against them was never seriously considered,” the embassy claimed.

“The Afghan government bears responsibility for the results of its decision,” it added.

None of the men have ever appeared before any court and the government maintains that they have no evidence they had ever broke the laws.

“The 65 prisoners were freed and walked out of the prison compound this morning,” said review body member Abdul Shukor Dadras.

“Their cases were reviewed and we had no reason to keep them in jail.”

The releases further strain relations between Washington and Mr Karzai, whose increasingly anti-US rhetoric and refusal to sign a long-negotiated security deal has incensed the US ahead of the withdrawal of most foreign combat troops at the end of the year.

The agreement would allow 10,000 US troops and about 6,000 others to remain in Afghanistan past 2014.

Mr Karzai ordered the detainees released several weeks ago, after his government took over the prison from US troops.

The prisoners were freed just after 9am from the detention facility near Bagram airfield, according to prison spokesman Major Nimatullah Khaki.

The US had claimed there was strong evidence against the detainees, from DNA linking them to roadside bombs to explosive residue on their clothing — but Kabul has insisted that there is insufficient proof to hold them.

Mr Karzai has referred to the Parwan prison as a “Taliban-producing factory” where innocent Afghans are tortured into hating their country.

Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman Mohammad Zair Azimi would not comment on the US complaints.

“Our responsibility is the protection of the prisoners. That is all,” Mr Azimi said.