Shiberghan, Afghanistan ? Shackled and under guard, 434 alleged Taliban and al-Qaida fighters shuffled out of Afghanistan’s most notorious prison Thursday, winning transfer to a Kabul jail after a weeklong hunger strike to protest being held without charges for more than two years.

The U.S.-backed government promised they would get speedy trials and said those cleared of major offenses were expected to be freed soon.

Long before the uproar over allegations of Iraqi detainees being abused by American troops, Shiberghan’s prison gained a reputation for brutality under the control of northern warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum.

International human reports groups depicted the jail as an abysmal place, pointing to its severe overcrowding and recounting reports of torture and starvation of prisoners.

The 236 Pakistanis and 198 Afghans taken away were among the last detainees from nearly 3,600 men once held at the prison in this northern city, leaving only 70 inmates convicted of nonterrorism charges, officials said. The men were being taken to join some 440 detainees moved to Kabul’s Pul-e-Charki prison earlier this week.

Jawed Ludin, a spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, said the transfer was prompted by “general problems” at the prison, as well as the hunger strike.

He said the men would be screened before possible release to make sure they “don’t pose a threat to Afghanistan or the region,” but wouldn’t say if the U.S. military would be involved in that process.

U.S. troops previously took away some detainees at Shiberghan as suspected al-Qaida members, and Americans were back in recent months for a final screening but didn’t remove anyone else, officials said. No U.S. military were present Thursday.

The hunger strike began April 29 after a clash that ended with the burning of a shop inside the prison.