U.S. jails in Afghanistan face scrutiny

BY STEPHEN GRAHAM

Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan — The top American general in Afghanistan has ordered a sweeping review of secretive U.S. jails in the country amid allegations of prisoner abuse, a military spokesman said Wednesday.

The U.S. military insists it is treating its Afghan prisoners humanely, but last week it launched two new investigations into claims by former detainees of mistreatment, including beatings and sexual abuse.

Military spokesman Lt. Col. Tucker Mansager said a general would be appointed to carry out the review of some 20 prisons and would visit each facility before reporting to the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. David Barno, by mid-June.

Portions of the report would be made public, the spokesman said.

"He will also ensure all facilities are adequate, and procedures are in accordance with the spirit of the Geneva Conventions and are being followed correctly and fully," Mansager said.

He didn't identify the general who would carry out the review, or whether he was an American or from one of the nations contributing troops to Afghanistan.

The revelations of abuse in Iraq have stirred concern that abuses may have occurred in Afghanistan, where coalition forces ousted the al-Qaida-linked Taliban government after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Rights groups say the accusations that prompted the two fresh investigations fit a pattern of alleged abuse, including the deaths of three prisoners in custody, going back to the aftermath of the war in late 2001.

Mansager said the military's handling of detainees in Afghanistan was different from that in Iraq because the process was "more mature," having gone through regular review.

But he stood firm against calls from an Afghan human rights group as well as media organizations for access to the closely guarded jails across Afghanistan to see if Iraq-style abuses were taking place.

Currently, only the International Committee of the Red Cross is allowed to visit the main Bagram facility, north of Kabul. But its reports are confidential, and Red Cross officials have no access to remote facilities at American bases such as Kandahar, Gardez and Asadabad, allegedly where some of the worst abuses took place.

Mansager said Barno had yet to respond to a request from the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission for access.

The U.S. military also faces criticism for a lack of results from criminal investigations into the deaths of three prisoners in Afghanistan in 2002 and 2003.

Military autopsies found that two had died as a result of "blunt force injuries." Officials say they have had trouble finding and interviewing the soldiers involved.

Hundreds of suspected Taliban and al-Qaida fighters have been held without charge at American jails across the country since the fall of the Taliban.

The military says it made big changes to its prison regime in early 2003 in the light of the prisoner deaths.