Features

No changes yet for Lindh

The Associated Press
Tuesday January 15, 2002

WASHINGTON — John Walker Lindh, the young Californian caught holed up with Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, remains aboard a naval ship at sea, military officials confirmed Monday. 

While other detainees were being taken to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, Lindh’s immediate future was less certain. 

Officials said 464 al-Qaida and Taliban detainees are in U.S. custody altogether — 413 in Afghanistan, the 20 in Cuba, the 30 in transit and Lindh on the USS Bataan in the Arabian Sea. 

Rear Adm. John Stufflebeem confirmed that Lindh, 20, is the only detainee on the USS Bataan. He said there has been no decision on where he will be taken next, or whether he will be charged. 

“He is the only individual that’s on USS Bataan at this moment,” Stufflebeem said. “His status is still being determined.” 

Lindh was found with captured Taliban fighters after northern alliance forces quelled a prison uprising in northern Afghanistan.