Afghan Commission Alleges US Detainee Abuse

Published January 7, 2012 1:09PM (EST)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan investigative commission has accused the U.S. military of abusing detainees at its largest prison, and says those held without evidence should be freed.

Commission members at a press conference Saturday repeated a demand made by President Hamid Karzai that the U.S. turn over all detainees to Afghan custody.

Karzai had charged the ad hoc commission with investigating the detention of hundreds of suspected militants held near Bagram air base north of Kabul.

Commission head Gul Rahman Qazi says that prisoners complained of freezing cold, humiliating strip searches and being deprived of light.

The status of detainees is a key unresolved issue in negotiations to leave a small U.S. security force in Afghanistan after most foreign troops withdraw in 2014.


By Salon Staff

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