Islam Times - Afghanistan-US tensions mounting over Bagram prison handover

Islam Times - The US military has recently handed over the control of prisoners in Bagram Jail to Afghan government. But President Karzai is not happy.

Tensions are mounting between him and Obama’s administration. He also wants to have the control of those 600 prisoners who have been detained by U.S forces after Kabul and Washington signed the strategic partnership deal. And Karzai has slammed this. To him, it is a matter of his country’s sovereignty.

President Karzai has yet again raised this issue in a meeting with Marc Grossman---the U.S special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan in his palace. Karzai warned Marc that any delay would be considered as violation of the strategic pact.

Transition of U.S run prisons to Afghans was the main demand of the Afghan government for signing this deal. Some of these 600 prisoners are said to be militants. Others are local people.

Arbitrary detentions by foreign troops have turned to be a big problem now for Afghans here. Since this war began, a large number of villagers have been reportedly dragged out of their homes during U.S night time raids and put either in this Bagram Jail or taken to Guantanamo Bay. And they were not allowed to take their cases to court.

Therefore local Afghans have also put their weight behind this decision of President Hamid Karzai. They have welcomed his call for hand-over of all prisoners. But will the U.S military here close down all its prisons and stop detaining local people during their military operations? Many here are skeptic.