KABUL (SW): Afghanistan Analysts Network’s recent report on prisoners in Guantanamo looks at the Afghan experience in Guantanamo, where a quarter of the total number of detainees held were Afghan, the largest national group. The report takes a ‘deep dive’ into the cases of eight of the longest-serving Afghan detainees.
AAN’s report indicates that none of the eight were picked up on the battlefield, so accusations are based on intelligence. Yet, the report finds many of the allegations against them are both vague and far-fetched, with accusations based on hearsay, testimony obtained under torture or duress, and unverified intelligence reports.
This report further suggest that six of them were detained in 2002 and 2003. Reward money or personal enmity looks to have been behind five of these six detentions. AAN’s report indicates that other two Afghans in were detained in 2007.
This report shows how Afghan allies of US forces were able to exploit their lack of information about the country to denounce their personal or factional enemies and get them detained.
AAN’s report also suggest the Afghan detainees imprisoned in Guantanamo do not have access to their lawyers, evidence and witnesses. It describes that the Bush administration had put no mechanisms in place to sift combatants from non-combatants.
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