U.S. Puts Transfer of Detainees to Afghans on Hold
Source: NYT
One of the centerpieces of the hand-over of American control to Afghan authority encountered a last-minute unexpected obstacle on Sunday when the United States paused the transfer of the final couple of dozen Afghan detainees at the Parwan detention facility.
The Afghan government said it was going ahead with what President Hamid Karzais office had characterized as a splendid transfer ceremony scheduled for Monday at Bagram Air Base, where the Parwan prison is, to mark the shift in detention operations. But the ceremony looked almost certain to take place without all of the roughly 3,000 Afghan detainees having been turned over, which was central to the memorandum of understanding struck between the two countries on March 9.
That agreement, signed at Mr. Karzais demand, set out a six-month transfer deadline and reflected rising assertions of sovereignty by the president and the Afghan government.
On Sunday, however, the United States said it was putting on hold the transfer of about 30 Afghan detainees because of doubts about the governments commitment to other parts of the memorandum of understanding.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/10/world/asia/us-puts-afghan-transfers-at-parwan-prison-on-hold.html
Solly Mack
(90,758 posts)Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)03:13 ET
Afghanistan: US hands over controversial Bagram jail
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 planned handover, disagreements with the US remain.
Washington is insisting that it will maintain control over some detainees in the prison.
-snip-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19539412
Tx4obama
(36,974 posts)sounds like not much to gripe about to me.