U.S. President Joe Biden is seeking to close the U.S. outpost military prison at Guantanamo Bay. 

The prison is said to hold 40 detainees, chief among them 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammad.

The prisoners are labeled as terrorists and are accused of killing nearly 3,000 Americans.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said it was the “goal” and “intention” of the Biden administration to close the facility, a promise President Obama made when he took office in January 2009, Reuters reported.

“We are undertaking an NSC process to assess the current state of play that the Biden administration has inherited from the previous administration, in line with our broader goal of closing Guantanamo,” National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne told Reuters, which was the first to report that the review was underway.

“The NSC will work closely with the Departments of Defense, State, and Justice to make progress toward closing the GTMO facility, and also in close consultation with Congress,” she added.

The U.S. opened the detention center in January 2002, in the aftermath of 9/11, to hold people accused of ties to al-Qaida and the Taliban. 

It became a source of international criticism over prisoners’ mistreatment and the prolonged imprisonment of people without charge.

Pollyanna Davy, Readers Bureau, Contributor

Edited by Jesus Chan

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