WAHINGTON - The U.S. military has warned the Afghan government over releasing the first wave of 88 prisoners from Bagram prison, saying that the released prisoners are "dangerous insurgents," the latest dispute to inflame US-Afghan relations.

The Afghan government has directed the Afghan Review Board (ARB), a government body, to release 37 prisoners. Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said some of those being released were linked to production of or attacks using improvised bombs, while others were believed to have been involved in attacks on Afghan or foreign soldiers.

"These are bad guys. These are individuals with blood on their hands, both US, coalition and Afghan blood on their hands," Warren told reporters at the Pentagon.

The ARB overseeing Bagram prisoner releases, led by Abdul Shakoor Dadras, ordered the first 37 of 88 prisoners from Bagram to be released on Monday.

"The review board, after long assessments and studies of the information and data that the NDS on recommendation of the President had submitted, decided on the future of at least 37 inmates detained in Bagram Prison," Dadras said.

But US officials have said 17 of the 37 released prisoners are linked to the production of IEDs and the killing of 11 Afghan soldiers.

However, President Hamid Karzai's approach to issue seems very different, highlighting the growing gulf between him and his reluctant partners in Washington to sign the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) that would authorize the US troops to remain in Afghanistan post 2014.

Karzai on Saturday said that the Bagram prison was a "Talib-making factory". "Bagram [prison] is a place where innocent people are tortured and insulted and made dangerous criminal," he said.

The US military handed over full control of the only US-run prison in Afghanistan to the Afghan government nearly one year ago, easing tensions over one of the longest-running standoffs between Kabul and Washington. (Tolonews)