Pompeo slams release of "American Taliban" as unconscionable: Fox

FILE PHOTO: Undated handout image of American Taliban John Walker Lindh, distributed February 5, 2002. American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh, described by a prosecutor as a "committed terrorist" who abandoned his country, is to be released early from a federal prison while some U.S. lawmakers worry he still poses a security risk. REUTERS/Handout/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticized the pending release on Thursday of John Walker Lindh, the American captured in 2001 fighting for the Taliban, and said he believed the decision needed to be reviewed.

"Unexplainable and unconscionable," Pompeo said in an interview with Fox News. Pompeo said Lindh "still is threatening the United states of America, still committed to the very jihad that he engaged in that killed a great American and a great CIA officer. There's something deeply troubling and wrong about it."

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)