The detention center set by the United States military has been established at the Bagram military base. It was to be a temporary screening site after the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan which overthrew the Taliban leaders. Closing down the center is easier said than done as the place contains 630 prisoners. It is over twice the 275 being held at Guantanamo Bay.
Three years and over thirty-million dollars had been spent transferring the Afghan prisoners held by the United States to a refurbished high-security detention center outside of Kabul. American officials explain that they can only fit about half the prisoners they planned to put in this detention center.
At the same time, the International Committee of the Red Cross has complained to the Pentagon about the treatment of some prisoners. The Red Cross is the only group that is allowed to go inside the detention center.
Last summer, the Red Cross said in a confidential memorandum that dozens of prisoners were held incommunicado for weeks or even months. The Red Cross adds that the prisoners were kept from the prison inspectors and at times subjugated to cruel treatment in violation of the Geneva Conventions.
However, Sandra L. Hodgkinson the senior official for detention policy of the Pentagon did not discuss the complaint. She cited the reasons for confidentiality.
The administration has come across obstacles that keep it from transitioning out of the Bagram detention center. Its plan underscores the complexity of the situation and the challenges that arise with it.
While the detention center has expanded in the last three years, it has received only a fraction of the needed attention from policy makers. In the meantime, Congress and the human rights groups have focused on Guantanamo Bay.
“The problem at Bagram hasn’t gone away,” explains Tina M. Foster, a human rights lawyer from New York. She has filed suits on the behalf of those detained at Bagram. She adds: “The government has just done a better job of keeping it secret.”
The deepening combat in Afghanistan is the cause of the rising number of detainees in Bagram according to US officials. They add that most of them are captured Taliban fighters.
Bagram’s increased population would reflect on a future problem for when the US turns over the prisoners to the Afghan government.
Plans to transfer prisoners to the Afghan government were foiled on more than one occasion. The first time was due to turf battles between the different ministries of the Afghan government.
Last may, two US servicemen in charge of overseeing the project were killed by a Taliban infiltrator.
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