Much has been made of the Afghan government releasing dozens of what the US dubbed “dangerous” detainees from Bagram Prison. It turns out they are just the tip of the iceberg as the Afghan reviews the evidence, or lack thereof, against those detainees.
In the three years since the handover began, the Afghan military police reveals that the review process on the 5,021 prisoners resulted in 4,159, over 82 percent, were found innocent of the charges against them and released outright.
That’s just the reviews they’ve gotten through so far, as officials say another 336 detainees are still pending reviews that they haven’t started because the US hasn’t turned over the files containing so-called evidence against them.
The Pentagon has angrily condemned the judicial review panel in the past, saying they were never meant to be allowed to let people go for lack of evidence. The failure to turn over the files on those 336 detainees may suggest the Pentagon has decided to stop cooperating with them entirely.
