Afghans Finally Handed Control of Parwan Detention Facility

On Monday, March 25, the last detention facility controlled by the U.S. military in Afghanistan has been turned over to the country. With the Parwan Detention Facility’s handover, which is near the Bagram Military Base of the U.S. in the northern part of Kabul,  the tense relations between the United States and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai is put to an end.

It is expected that the recent development will pave way for the bilateral security agreement regarding American forces’ presence after 2014 in Afghanistan and will yield positive and beneficial results for the two countries. At present there are 66,000 U.S. military personnel among the 100,000 members of the coalition troops in the country. There is no decision yet on the total number of military personnel that will remain after 2014 although it is believed to be about 12,000.

Handover

General Joseph Dunford, the highest commander of the U.S. in Afghanistan handed the Parwan Detention Facility back to the country after he and Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, Defense Minister of Afghanistan signed the agreement. The ceremony took place a few hours before John Kerry, the U.S. Secretary of State made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan to meet President Karzai. There were concerns that the Afghan President might be using anti-American slogans that could jeopardize the war against extremists.

The first agreement for the handover was signed last year; however the negotiations soured because of the concern of the U.S. that prisoners would be released by the government of Afghanistan, which could present a potential danger to the country. On the Afghan’s side, they contend that administrative detentions (holding people without any formal charges) violate the law of Afghanistan. The U.S. countered that administrative detentions are allowed by international law and they want to avoid the risk of some of their prominent detainees being used by the then corrupt court system of the country.

Important Role

The transfer is a crucial part in the transition of allowing the Afghan National Security Forces to lead Afghanistan’s security, with the handover signaling that the country is increasingly getting capable, independent and confident. The United States and its allies plan to fully withdraw combat troops stationed in Afghan soil by the end of 2014.

Much of the behind-the-scenes negotiations were not made publicly available. What’s known is that the government of Afghanistan will put forward a procedure to ensure the continued detention of potentially-dangerous prisoners. A senior Washington official revealed that the agreement includes provision for Kabul and the U.S. to resolve their differences together. The new memorandum is an affirmation of the two countries’ mutual commitment to treat detainees humanely and lawfully and their intent to protect the coalition forces and the population of Afghanistan.

This new memorandum of understanding that was signed by General Dunford and Defense Secretary Mohammadi supercedes the agreement that was signed March of last year. Another provision in the agreement states that new detainees that may be picked up by the military coalition on the Afghan battlefield should be handed over to the Afghan authorities within 96 hours.

The Facility

The deal broker was Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, head of the transition commission for the Afghans. He said it was the product of his country’s long and continuous dialogue with the international community, adding that President Karzai made it his administration’s prime marker.

Majority of the 3,000 detainees are now under Afghan control although about 100 prisoners, deemed part of the ongoing conflict, remain under U.S. authority as they have no right to trial. Not all of the detained are Afghan nationals. The spokesperson for the Defense Ministry, General Zahir Azimi said these non-Afghan nationals are not their priority at the moment so they are to remain under U.S. jurisdiction.

The Bagram facility and the main Kabul prison cost the US$250 million dollars to build in 2002. The Parwan Detention Facility was opened in 2009 and holds about 3,000 prisoners. It has been renamed the Afghan National Detention Facility at Parwan after the handover on Monday. Advisers and a funding worth US$39 million will be provided by the U.S. military to the facility.