Yemenis at Gitmo stuck in diplomatic stalemate

In a telephone interview Friday, Hodgkinson said the U.S. was concerned "with the track record of the Yemeni government in mitigating these type of threats." But she conceded it is hard to have complete confidence in any country's ability to keep freed detainees from posing a threat.

Only 13 Yemenis have been repatriated from Guantanamo since the prison opened soon after a U.S.-led campaign toppled Afghanistan's Taliban regime. After being returned to Yemen, they were questioned and released because they were not wanted for crimes there, Yemeni officials said.

That is not much different from what happened with the 126 Afghan detainees who have been sent home. Some were put in Afghan prisons but dozens are now free.

Afghans don't keep track of ex-detainees
Even though much of Afghanistan remains lawless as the U.S. and its allies battle Taliban insurgents, the Afghan government does not maintain surveillance of former detainees who have been let go, said Sharif Yousefy, spokesman for that nation's Reconciliation Commission.

Released Guantanamo prisoners are even given a letter by the Reconciliation Commission, telling police and intelligence officials not to harass them, Yousefy added.

Saudis were long the second-largest population at Guantanamo after Afghans, and a total of 118 Saudis have been returned home.

A "religious rehabilitation" program in Saudi Arabia designed to persuade former detainees to abandon militant ideology has won praise from the Pentagon and hastened the repatriation of Saudis. Forty were sent home from Guantanamo in just the last four months.

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