ISLAMABAD (AFP) – A U.S. closure of Guantanamo Bay could deprive militants of a major propaganda tool and help Pakistan in the fight against extremism, analysts said Sunday.

Opened in January 2002 after the United States invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban regime for sheltering Al-Qaeda, the prison detained hundreds of alleged militants without judicial review.
As the United States sought to fend off accusations that tactics at Guantanamo amounted to torture, the prison became fodder for militants who used its imagery to capture young minds and recruit volunteers to drive extremist attacks.
In Pakistan, the kidnappers of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl demanded the closure of Guantanamo Bay before they beheaded him in 2002.
Pictures of open-air cages, inmates wearing orange jumpsuits with black bags over their heads and testimony from ex-prisoners about ill-treatment made Guantanamo a symbol of the worst excesses in the U.S.-led ""war on terror"".