KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – President Hamid Karzai ordered a review Sunday of all cases of Taliban suspects being held in Afghan jails and said those being detained on doubtful evidence must be released.

The step was Karzai's first official response to a national conference last week on ways to end his country's nearly 9-year-old insurgency. The resolution from that meeting included recommendations to move toward negotiations with militant factions.
The conference, called a ""jirga"" in the local language, also recommended that Taliban prisoners being held in Afghan custody and by the U.S. military should be released if they were being held on ""inaccurate statements or unsubstantiated allegations.""
Hundreds of Taliban and other militant suspects are being held in Afghan jails across the country. Hundreds more, including al-Qaida operatives, are being held in U.S. military jails in Afghanistan and Cuba.
Karzai's office said in a statement he had ordered the creation of a delegation of officials from the Supreme Court, a government-backed reconciliation commission, Justice Ministry and other judicial officers to ""identify those prisoners who are in jails without enough evidence and release them.""
Last week's meeting — made up of some 1,500 tribal, religious, provincial and other leaders — said insurgent prisoners should be released as a goodwill gesture that would precede peace talks with the Taliban. But it also stressed that insurgents who want to take part in the peace process must cut their ties with foreign terrorist groups such as al-Qaida.
Photo: Afghan President Hamid Karzai, right, listens to speeches delivered by delegates with his first vice President Qasim Fahim during a three day conference of Peace Jirga in Kabul, Afghanistan, June 4, 2010. (Photo: AP/Musadeq Sadeq)