Afghanistan to free 72 prisoners who US says are insurgents

KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghanistan on Thursday, January 9, said it would release scores of alleged Taliban fighters from jail as there was no evidence against them, despite US objections that the men could return to the battlefield as troops from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) withdraw.

The releases will further strain US-Afghan relations as pressure mounts for the 2 countries to sign a long-delayed security deal allowing some American soldiers to stay in the country after 2014.

A meeting chaired by Afghan President Hamid Karzai “ordered the Bagram prisoners’ dossier review board to free those prisoners who are innocent and against whom there is no evidence,” a statement said.

US General Joseph Dunford, commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, had earlier lodged an official objection over the releases, saying they were against an agreement signed when Bagram jail was handed over by the US in March.

Bagram jail was eventually passed to Afghan control after a public stand-off with Karzai, who sees the jail as a symbol of Afghanistan’s efforts to regain its national sovereignty.

The statement from Karzai’s office said that of the 88 prisoners, there was no evidence against 45 of them and only circumstantial information against 27. The other 16 will be kept in jail and their cases reviewed.

“We cannot keep Afghans in detention without any evidence – that would be illegal,” presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi told Agence France-Presse.

But the US says the 88 men were responsible for over 60 NATO coalition and 57 Afghan deaths.

“At least 59 of the 88 cases could be sent directly…for prosecution in an Afghan court,” a US official said in a briefing ahead of Thursday’s announcement.

“The remaining 29 cases have significant investigative leads necessitating immediate referral to NDS (intelligence services) for investigation.”

Bilateral agreement

Washington and Kabul are edging closer to signing the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), which would see several thousand US troops remain in Afghanistan to provide training and assistance after the NATO combat mission ends in December.

Faizi said the prison releases would not affect US-Afghan ties, which hit a fresh low in recent months when Karzai made a surprise decision not to sign the BSA promptly despite having vowed to do so.

Signing the BSA is a precondition for the delivery of billions of dollars in Western aid for Afghanistan, which will hold an election to choose Karzai’s successor in April 2014.

President Barack Obama’s deputies have warned that unless Karzai relents on the security deal soon, there will be no option but to prepare for a full US troop exit – the so-called “zero option.”

A similar deal with Iraq collapsed in 2011 leading to a complete US troop pull-out, and the country is now in the grip of worsening sectarian violence.

Some analysts believe the Afghan government hopes that the Bagram prison releases could help kick-start moribund peace talks with Taliban insurgents who were ousted from power in 2001.

A leaked US intelligence assessment said this month that progress made in Afghanistan since 2001 was likely to be seriously eroded by 2017 even if some US troops stay and Western powers continue to support Kabul financially.

Visiting Republican US senators said last week that releasing the suspected Taliban fighters would do irreparable damage to bilateral ties, but they stopped short of saying it would sink the BSA. – Rappler.com