KABUL, Afghanistan – President Hamid Karzai ordered Afghan forces to take control of the Bagram prison and accused American officials of violating an agreement to hand over the facility to Afghan control, according to a statement issued by his office on Monday.
The move came after what Mr. Karzai said was the expiration of a two-month grace period agreed with President Obama to complete the full transfer of the prison. The Afghan president convened a meeting Sunday of top officials to report on the status of the transfer, which led to Monday’s statement.
“The meeting began by hearing reports by the attorney general and the military police commander, where it said that even prisoners who were presumed innocent by the court are still being held,” the statement said.
American forces were continuing to house newly captured prisoners at the Parwan detention center, the American-built prison at Bagram Air Base, the main facility for Afghanistan, another violation of earlier agreements, the statement added.
American officials have said that the agreement between the two countries, known as a memorandum of understanding, left open to further negotiation how to handle new prisoners captured by American forces on the battlefield. Those negotiations have stalled, however, over disputes about the release of some prisoners that the Americans have refused to release.
The status quo was “a serious breach of the memorandum of understanding,” Mr. Karzai was quoted as saying in the statement, and he ordered Afghan officials, including the commander of Bagram, to take “urgent measures to ensure a full Afghanization of the prison affairs and a complete transfer of its authority.”
“It’s an issue of sovereignty for the government of Afghanistan and to General Allen it’s a matter of security for the coalition troops, you can’t just bring these guys in and let them go,” an American official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because an official response to Mr. Karzai’s statement had not yet been prepared. Gen. John R. Allen, the commander of American and NATO troops here, is still in Washington, D.C., after a scandal erupted over numerous e-mails he sent to a woman in Florida.
It was not clear whether there would be any immediate practical change in control of the facility, which holds up to 3,000 prisoners. The prison lies within the much larger American-controlled Bagram Air Base and is surrounded by American-manned checkpoints as well as being heavily staffed by American guards, despite the nominal transfer of control to the Afghans in September.
Karzai Orders Takeover of Afghan Prison
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