BBC News - Afghanistan: US hands over controversial Bagram jail

Tags: control, transferring, taliban, prison, terror, news, afghan, custody

"(...) The US military has handed control of a controversial prison housing more than 3 000 Taliban fighters and terrorism suspects to the Afghan authorities In a small ceremony Afghan officials said inmates had been transferred to their authority The move is part of a deal to transfer all Afghan prisons back to local control ahead of the withdrawal of Nato forces at the end of 2014 Bagram prison has been at the centre of a number of prisoner abuse allegations Although Afghan President Hamid Karzai has hailed the handover disagreements with the US remain Washington is insisting that it will maintain control over some detainees in the prison Continue reading the main story Analysis image of Jonathan Beale Jonathan Beale BBC News Kabul For President Karzai the handover of Parwan detention facility is a matter of sovereignty But for the Americans there are issues of trust Even as the official handover ceremony takes place there are still deep divisions At the crux of the disagreement is the US insistence that it retains the right to arrest and hold prisoners caught on the battlefield While around 3 000 prisoners have already been transferred the US is still believed to be holding on to hundreds of others and around 50 nationals from third countries such as Pakistan Among US concerns are what would happen to high value detainees once handed over to the Afghans could they be released But human rights groups and some Afghans are worried that continued US control of part of the prison could lead to the creations of Guantanamo s twin brother The handover took place in a brief ceremony which correspondents say was poorly attended by US and Nato officers (...)"