Afghan police and foreign troops have recaptured 71 Taliban inmates since Sunday’s prison break, but the jail’s head said many of the terrorists have likely reached havens in Pakistan.
At least 400 of the escapees remain at large after Sunday night’s mass breakout from Afghanistan’s largest jail, officials said.
Justice Minister Habibullah Ghaleb laid much of the blame on failures by Afghan security forces and foreign troops.
He said the escape tunnel led to a house that had been searched 2½ months ago by Afghan troops — who were unaware a tunnel was being dug beneath them.
Ghaleb also acknowledged in a letter to President Hamid Karzai that prison officials or guards likely acted as Taliban accomplices.