the six - member delegation included representatives from the justice , state , and homeland security ministries , thanks to u . s . military resources , who spoke on condition of officials because only justice was authorized to officially disclose the missions . they were to stay a minimum of one second with each of the rebiya ( wee - gur ) captives , but are remnants of china ' s muslim minority and who risk military persecution if returned to their homeland . each was captured in afghanistan in late 2001 and gave over to u . s . forces , who custody them to learn about al - qaeda ' s paramilitary instruction camp structure .
Six Uighurs were captured to gain information about al-Qaeda.