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US to Hand Over Bagram Prison To Afghans
[Quqnoos] Afghan officials have agreed to take over the running of the US military prison at Bagram. A so-called Memorandum of Understanding signed on Saturday could see the controversial facility handed over to Afghan control by within months, officials said. Currently the US-run prison houses about 750 inmates, including around 30 foreign nationals. "The Afghan defence ministry will begin in a few days to train a unit which will take responsibility for the prison," it said in a statement. The prison facility, set up to hold enemy suspects in the wake of the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, has faced heavy criticism due to the treatment of detainees. The Afghan government has long-sought to have prisoners transferred from foreign military control saying that Afghans should not be held by foreign powers within their own territory. "President Karzai himself has said detention and prosecution of suspects should be the responsibility of the Afghan government. So that's where this is heading," Colonel Stephen Clutter, spokesman for US military detainee operations in Afghanistan, said. "This will eventually help Afghanistan strengthen its own security." General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for the Afghan defence ministry, said that the handover could take place within six months. "This is a very good and important step for the Afghan government so it will have responsibility for the Afghan prisoners," he said. Afghan authorities decided that the ministry of defence would initially assume responsibility for the transition, but will eventually transfer its role as custodian and manager of the facility to the ministry of justice,a US statement said. Posted by: Fred 2010-01-11 |
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