THE BURNED OVER DISTRICT

And that number will get smaller as we find ways to return those left from that stain upon the United States, the Guantanamo Bay Concentration Camp, to some semblance of civilian life.

Four Afghan detainees have been released from Guantanamo Bay and repatriated at the request of President Ashraf Ghani, the U.S. Department of Defense confirmed Saturday.

Shawali Khan, Khi Ali Gul, Abdul Ghani and Mohammed Zahir were flown to Afghanistan after what the Pentagon called a “comprehensive review” of their case. Lawyers for Khan and Ghani said their clients were already back with their families, after more than a decade of detention without charge.

“Ghani should never have been imprisoned in the first place, let alone for more than a decade,” said Barry Wingard, a retired Air Force Lt. Colonel, who represents the 42-year-old Afghan farmer. “After many years of terrible treatment at the hands of his captors, Abdul returns to his homeland as innocent as the day he was taken from his family.”

The men become the latest detainees released from Guantanamo, which President Barack Obama has committed to gradually shuttering. Saturday’s release, which was coordinated with the Afghan government, leaves 132 detainees still languishing at the facility, where torture allegedly took place until 2008.

The four Afghans were cleared for release by the Obama administration back in 2010 and a deal was subsequently arranged in March of this year to send them home. It is not clear why Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, who has final approval of releases, waited so long to act.

Lawyers noted that the timing of their eventual release coincides with the formal end of the U.S. war in Afghanistan and the withdrawal of most foreign troops later this month.

And still our brave Congress insists we keep the camp open at great and unnecessary expense to keep the remaining terrible supermen of terror from our shores.