Worries on Transfer of Parwan Detention Facility to Afghan Control

President Karzai has made the transfer of the Parwan detention facility located at Bagram Air Field (just north of Kabul) one of his central themes during the talks on the strategic agreement with the U.S. to be signed soon. The U.S. caved on this issue agreeing to transfer the facility to Afghan control within six months. Many observers have grave concerns about the ability of the Afghans to run a prison effectively, and to ensure the detainees actually stay detained. In 2011 over 500 Taliban detainees escaped from a prison in Kandahar. In the past the Ministry of Justice ran the prison system in Afghanistan; however the prisons now come under the control of the Ministry of Interior. Unfortunately the Ministry of Interior does not seem to be doing a better job. The Afghans run the Pol-i-Charki prison with money, equipment, and mentorship from the U.S. - but they are often accused of human rights abuses and misconduct. Numerous abuses occur especially with the illegal body cavity searches of women visitors.

Read more in "US aid cutoff fails to end Afghan prison searches", Boston Globe, March 17, 2012 and "Afghan Prison's Invasive Searches of Female Vistors Stir Fear of Slipping Rights", The New York Times, March 16, 2012.