Prisons in Afghanistan
BY Herschel Smith
15 years, 5 months ago
From Reuters:
A U.S. military report on detainees in Afghanistan calls for changes in both U.S. and Afghan prison systems to prevent Islamist radicalization behind bars, U.S. military officials said on Monday.
As authorities in Afghanistan brace for a new wave of detainees from stepped-up U.S. and NATO military operations, officials said the report recommends that detention facilities separate militant religious extremists from each other and the general prison population.
The report by Marine Major General Douglas Stone also calls for vocational training for other detainees, as well as religious instruction from moderate Muslim clerics who reject the harsh theology of the Taliban.
Officials said the policy changes could help reconcile many Taliban fighters with the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a step viewed as vital for stabilizing the war-torn country.
We’ve seen it before in Iraq. Radicalization behind prison bars. But in Afghanistan we have noted our doubt that the hard core Taliban fighters will “reconcile” with Afghanistan. Control it, sure. Reconcile to being merely a part of it – no. These bad boys are in prison, some of them, and the question now is what to do with them?
It’s gets worse.
Reports today that the U.S. military is calling for an overhaul of the Bagram prison in Afghanistan follow weeks of little-reported protests by prisoners there, who since July 1 have refused to leave their cells or participate in video-phone calls with family members, all to protest their indefinite detention, says the International Committee of the Red Cross, which informed families of the protests. Prisoners are reportedly refusing even to meet with the ICRC.
Do tell? Protests of indefinite detention, you say? Our position? Same as Old Trooper who comments at Blackfive. “Taking prisoners is not productive.” The problem started when we took prisoners.
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