Ninety Percent of Captured "Taliban" Were Civilians: US Data
13 June 2011
During his intensive initial round of media interviews as commander in Afghanistan in August 2010, Gen. David Petraeus released figures to the news media that claimed spectacular success for raids by Special Operations Forces: in a 90-day period from May through July, SOF units had captured 1,355 rank and file Taliban, killed another 1,031, and killed or captured 365 middle or high-ranking Taliban. The claims of huge numbers of Taliban captured and...
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US Improves System for Afghan Detainees but Still Fails to Comply with Int'l Law: Report
11 May 2011
More than 1700 prisoners currently detained by the United States in Afghanistan do not have the right to see evidence being used against them or the right to legal representation in breech of the minimum standards of due process required by international law, a new report finds. The findings, released today by Human Rights First, come as the number of detainees held at the United States’ Bagram Air Base surpasses 1,700 – almost triple...
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Interpol Blasts Afghan Security after Jailbreak
27 April 2011
Afghanistan's failure to keep photographs, fingerprints and DNA of convicts who escaped from prison this week poses a major threat to global anti-terrorism efforts, international police agency Interpol said on Wednesday. Taliban insurgents organised a daring jailbreak in the southern Afghan town of Kandahar on Monday, freeing some 500 prisoners including convicted terrorists by digging a tunnel from a nearby house. Interpol said Afghan authorities...
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Taliban Break Free over 480 Inmates Out of Afghan Jail
26 April 2011
The diggers finally poked through Sunday and spent 4 1/2 hours ferrying away more than 480 inmates without a shot being fired, according to the Taliban and Afghan officials. Most of the prisoners were Taliban militants. Accounts of the extraordinary prison break, carried out in the dead of night, suggest collusion with prison guards, officials or both. Following a recent wave of assassinations here, the breakout underscores the weakness of the Afghan...
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Newly Released Classified Documents Offer Insights into Guantanamo Detainees
26 April 2011
A trove of more than 700 classified military documents provides new and detailed accounts of the men who have done time at the Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba, and offers new insight into the evidence against the 172 men still locked up there. Military intelligence officials, in assessments of detainees written between February 2002 and January 2009, evaluated their histories and provided glimpses of the tensions between captors and captives....
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Special Forces Continue to Detain Suspects for Weeks in Secret Jails
08 April 2011
"Black sites," the secret network of jails that grew up after the Sept. 11 attacks, are gone. But suspected terrorists are still being held under hazy circumstances with uncertain rights in secret, military-run jails across Afghanistan, where they can be interrogated for weeks without charge, according to U.S. officials who revealed details of the top-secret network to The Associated Press. The Pentagon has previously denied operating secret jails...
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US Military Revamps Afghan Detention System
07 March 2011
[...] In the year since American commanders shuttered the infamous Bagram Airfield prison and opened a new facility nearby, they have released hundreds of low-threat detainees, hoping they would spread word of fair treatment and improved conditions in U.S. hands. [...] U.S. commanders say the contrast is sharp between the old Bagram detention center and the new one, called the Detention Center in Parwan. [...] The new facility—which now holds...
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At CIA, Grave Mistakes, then Promotions: AP In-depth Investigation
09 February 2011
, The Associated Press, 9 February 2011
EXCERPT: "[...] The AP investigation of the CIA's actions revealed a disciplinary system that takes years to make decisions, hands down reprimands inconsistently and is viewed inside the agency as prone to favoritism. When people are disciplined, the punishment seems to roll downhill, sparing senior managers involved in mishandled operations. [...] For...
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Afghan Officials Want to Prolong Detentions
26 January 2011
, The Washington Post, 26 January 2011
EXCERPT: "Afghan justice and security officials want to adopt the U.S. practice of detaining suspected insurgents indefinitely without trial, according to senior U.S. and Afghan officials involved in efforts to have the government in Kabul take control of detention operations in the country. The Afghans' embrace of prolonged detention could provoke...
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US Claims Kinder Prison, Swifter Justice for Detainees in Afghanistan
19 January 2011
Kinder Prison, Swifter Justice for US Detainees in Afghanistan, The Boston Globe, 18 January 2011
EXCERPT: "[...] Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, US forces have detained thousands of suspected enemy combatants without trial in facilities such as Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Abu Ghraib in Iraq, and Bagram in Afghanistan. US officials say the detentions prevent attacks, but critics charge that innocent people have been unfairly held for...
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