U.S. planning major expansion at detainee facility in Afghanistan

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HOW’S THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY STUFF WORKIN’ OUT FOR YA?

Even as U.S.-led forces draw down in Afghanistan, U.S. officials expect the number of detainees at their main prison to increase — and by a significant margin.

Officials had already announced that they would retain control of the Parwan Detention Center north of Kabul well beyond the planned 2012 transfer date because of concerns that the Afghan legal system is still too weak. But U.S. officials recently said they intend to solicit contractors to help expand the facility’s capacity from about 3,500 beds to 5,500 beds.

Parwan, which has been expanded previously, holds about 2,500 detainees. Those detainees include high-profile insurgents as well as Afghans who are suspected of playing more of a peripheral role in the conflict.

The construction project “is part of our established and ongoing transition efforts” with the Afghan government, Capt. Kevin Aandahl, a spokesman for the U.S. task force that oversees detention operations in Afghanistan, said in an e-mail. Aandahl said the expansion was necessary to “accommodate an increase in the number of suspected insurgents being detained as a result of intelligence-based counter- terrorism operations, which we conduct with our Afghan partners.

U.S. control of Parwan has long been a subject of frustration for Afghans, who see it as a symbol of American occupation, and the expansion is unlikely to help matters.

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Guantanomo by another name…

Gotta put them Gitmo boys somewheres….

Can this kind of insanity exist anywhere but in government? We have the perfect prison, Beautiful Guantanamo Prison on the Bay! With a scenic view of the bluegreen and beautiful ocean. A mild cool and pleasant breeze to dry the sweat. Rolling mountains covered in green to the back of Gitmo. The scumbags even have an arrow painted on their cell floors to so they don’t suffer from disorientation sickness in searching for the right direction to kneel and pray towards mecca. TV, games, painting classes, etc.. a large exercise yard, special food to meet their religious diets, Korans provided to them free of charge, and the whole facility clean as clean and modern too. And Obama closes it! Because it was viewed negatively by some other nations and a handful of the lunatic left here in America. And now there is still no standard operating procedure for some terrorists, two years after Obama takes office. Yet he freed some instead of keeping them there and now 1 out of 4 have returned back to their old profession of killing innocent people. That number may actually be higher depending on what constitutes terrorism. The insanity continues! Risk American lives to capture these killers, then set them free again to do it all over again. Only government could be this stupid.

Ironic.
Especially in the face of @Gary G. Swenchonis:
Gary’s comment above.
Yes.
Gitmo is a place where prisoners are so well treated they gain weight.
But Afghani prisons?
Not so much.
The Nato-led mission in Afghanistan has suspended the transfer of detainees to several Afghan jails, following torture allegations, the BBC has learned. (6 September 2011)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14809579

Prisons are run by the Afghan police and intelligence service.
Electro shock has been alleged.

BBC has learned the report describes the torture as commonplace and systematic.

Prisoners, some of whom had been handed over by Nato troops, were beaten with rubber hoses and threatened with sexual assault.

Most of those held were suspected of being insurgents and some were held without charge.
….
Last year, Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) agreed to halt the transfer of prisoners to NDS (Afghan National Department of Security) jails in Kabul, after a court ruled that they faced the risk of torture or serious mistreatment.

(Scratching my head over this one.) Um, didn’t the Obama administration say most of our troops were going to be leaving Afghanistan? Are the remaining troops going to be playing prison guards?