Kabul: The Afghan Government has agreed on a transition plan to take over responsibility for the US-run prison at Bagram air base, where there have been allegations of human rights abuses. US and Afghan officials said the handover could occur by the end of the year.
Treatment of inmates at the facility has been under scrutiny since the 2002 deaths at Bagram of two Afghan detainees, which led to prisoner abuse charges against several American troops. Concerns about lengthy detentions also have drawn comparisons with US detention centres in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in Iraq.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has said he wants operations at Bagram to be re-evaluated and has called for the release of inmates being held without evidence. He said arrests are turning ordinary Afghans against US and Nato forces.
The US military welcomed the Memorandum of Understanding signed by senior Afghan officials on Saturday, saying the facility could be handed over to Afghan control by the end of the year. Defence Minister General Abdul Rahim Wardak and other senior Afghan officials signed the agreement. The top US military commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal attended the ceremony but did not sign the deal.
Assuming responsibility
The Afghans decided that the Ministry of Defence will initially assume responsibility for the transition, but will eventually transfer its role as custodian and manager of the facility to the Ministry of Justice, according to a US statement.
The Ministry of Defence said in a statement that the Afghans would take over operation of the prison and responsibility for investigating, detaining and trying the inmates.
General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for the ministry, said training of two army battalions of about 800 soldiers each to take over responsibility for Bagram would begin within days although he acknowledged the process would take time.
