Afghanistan on Tuesday said it would press ahead with the release of scores of alleged Taliban fighters from jail despite US objections that the men were a threat to NATO and Afghan forces.

Kabul announced on January 9 that a total of 72 detainees held at Bagram jail near the capital would be freed due to lack of evidence.

Afghan authorities "concluded that  there is no evidence against 72 out of 88 prisoners. We reviewed their cases again after objections by the US forces, and for now we will release 65 prisoners," Abdul Shukur Dadras from the Afghan government body reviewing detainees at Bagram said.

"These 65 inmates ... will be released as soon as early next week," he told AFP.

"United States Forces-Afghanistan has learned that 65 dangerous individuals from a group of 88 detainees under dispute have been ordered released from the Afghan National Detention Facility at Parwan," the US military force said in a statement. "The release of these detainees is a major step backward for the rule of law in Afghanistan," it said.

"Some previously-released individuals have already returned to the fight, and this subsequent release will allow dangerous insurgents back into Afghan cities and villages."

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said American troops would be ready to kill or capture the freed detainees if they posed a danger.

"It is the US position that these are threats to US forces and should they take up arms against us, we would take immediate action," Colonel Steven Warren told reporters.

Last month, US officials objected to Afghanistan after the government directed the Afghan Review Board, a government body, to release 37 of the 88 detainees.

Bagram was the main detention center housing Taliban and other insurgents captured by the Western military forces until it was transferred to Afghan control last year.

The issue threatens to further strain US-Afghan relations amid pressure for the two countries to sign a long-delayed security deal allowing some American soldiers to stay in the country after 2014.

President Barack Obama's administration has been pressing President Hamid Karzai to sign the bilateral pact, but there is little sign of him complying. On Tuesday, a report claimed that the US may delay the deal until after Karzai leaves office.

AFP - Reuters