Red Cross to help 3 Afghan men

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The International Red Cross is helping three Afghans freed from the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay rejoin their families in far-flung regions of Afghanistan, an ICRC spokeswoman said on Thursday.\nThe men were freed from the U.S. base last weekend and returned to the Afghan capital, Kabul.\n"We've been requested by the authorities to provide assistance to return the former detainees back to their families, to organize their transport back home," said ICRC spokeswoman Caroline Douilliez.\nTwo of the men were flown from Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar, where the ICRC would arrange transport to their homes in Helmand and Uruzgan provinces, Douilliez said. A private car was hired to take the third man to Paktika province.\nThe ICRC declined to disclose further details on the transfer, saying it was out of respect for the men's privacy.\n"We want to ensure discretion and respect for their privacy during the transfer. We want to ensure everything goes smoothly," Douilliez told The Associated Press.\nThe three men arrived back in Afghanistan on Sunday and were handed over to Afghan authorities in the presence of ICRC delegates, who provided them with warm clothes.\nThey are the first group of detainees to be cleared and released from the U.S. military's high-security island prison in Cuba because they no longer posed a threat.