WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Opposition groups in Afghanistan have captured prisoners fighting with the Taliban and Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network from all over the world, including Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Chechnya, Australia, the United States and now China, according to defense officials.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld acknowledged the presence of Chinese fighters Thursday at a Pentagon briefing, but did not give additional details.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said earlier this week Beijing wants any Chinese caught fighting with the Taliban or al Qaida to be returned to the country.
"If these people proved to be Chinese citizens, the relevant side should (hand them) to China to be handled according to law."
"These Uighurs are East Turkestan terrorists," she said.
China has been battling its own indigenous Muslim Uighur separatist fighters in Xinjiang, a northwestern province, which the separatists call East Turkestan.
The al Qaida force, initially estimated by the Defense Intelligence Agency at between 4,000 and 10,000 soldiers, is heavily populated with Arabs from all over the Middle East as well.
It is a demographic point the United States government has been hammering home since the bombing began Oct. 7 -- that Afghanistan had been overtaken by foreigners and that its war is not with the Afghans.
Much of the information was gleaned from the 800 Taliban and al Qaida prisoners taken by the opposition forces of Gen. Rashid Dostum at Mazar-i-Sharif. The prisoners revolted and all but a small number were killed in the three-day battle.
Among those who survived was American Talib fighter John Walker Lindh, a 20-year-old from northern California.
A U.S. official said it is possible that Irish, German and British fighters are among the prisoners, as slain CIA officer Michael Spann could be heard on a videotape asking Walker whether he was from any of those countries.
A 26-year-old Australian man was captured with al Qaida fighters in Afghanistan, according to Australian Attorney General Daryl Williams, and was being held by Northern Alliance forces.
In a related development Thursday, Human Rights Watch called on the international community to find acceptable solutions for dealing with non-Afghan prisoners in the war, but not including deportation to home countries if they would face "a serious threat of being tortured by their governments."
"Foreign fighters who have committed grave crimes must be brought to justice," said James Ross, senior legal adviser for the New York-based organization. "But the U.S. and other governments must work with the new Afghan government to address the problem of the remaining fighters and their families."
Afghanistan's new interim government -- with international assistance -- should establish a method for screening captured foreign fighters to determine their status under international humanitarian law "and whether they may be responsible for criminal offenses," it wrote in a news release.
"All persons implicated in serious violations of international humanitarian law and other international crimes should be prosecuted by competent and impartial tribunals that meet international fair standards.
"This could include trials before courts established in Afghanistan, courts in third countries exercising 'universal jurisdiction,' or some form of an international tribunal."
