You have to wonder how much of this is blather on his part.
"Karzai seeks control of Afghan prisoners
Friday, January 06, 2012
By Matthew Rosenberg, The New York Times
KABUL, Afghanistan -- President Hamid Karzai abruptly demanded Thursday that the U.S.-led coalition hand over all Afghan prisoners in its custody and cede control of its main prison in Afghanistan within a month. He said his government had evidence that Afghan law and prisoners' human rights were being violated at the prison.
The demand stunned coalition leaders, who were not consulted before the announcement, according to U.S. and European officials in Kabul.
The coalition has long-standing plans to turn over the prison to Afghan authorities, along with control over all detainees, but the timing has remained uncertain because of delays in training Afghan guards to run the facility and concerns about widespread torture and other abuses in Afghan-run prisons.
In contrast, independent Afghan and Western human rights advocates have documented relatively humane conditions at the U.S. prison since it opened in late 2009, replacing an older facility plagued by abuses. Even so, there have been persistent complaints about arbitrary detentions and lack of due process at the new prison -- pervasive problems in the Afghan prison system as well.
Mr. Karzai in his statement Thursday said a report by a commission of senior Afghan officials, all political appointees, found "many cases of violations of the Afghan Constitution and other applicable laws of the country, the relevant international conventions and human rights" at the U.S. prison. The statement gave no details. Mr. Karzai called for all Afghan prisoners to be transferred to Afghan authorities' control within a month, so further breaches of "Afghan sovereignty can be avoided."
The statement made reference only to the "Bagram Prison." Karzai spokesman Aimal Faizi said that meant the detention facility in Parwan, which in 2009 replaced the older prison at Bagram Air Base, one of the main coalition bases. The older prison, since torn down, was housed in a Soviet-era machinery hangar, and abuses there were well documented; at least two prisoners died after interrogations.
The Thursday statement's reference to Afghan sovereignty and the announcement's timing prompted speculation that the move was politically motivated. Mr. Karzai has repeatedly lashed out at real and perceived slights from his Western supporters, and officials in his administration have expressed frustration in recent days that they are playing only a secondary role in negotiations with the Taliban, at least for now.
A Western official in Kabul also suggested that the Karzai administration was engaging in a round of "public negotiation" ahead of fresh talks with Washington on a so-called strategic partnership document that will lay out the U.S. role in Afghanistan after NATO's combat mission ends in 2014. The main Afghan demands in the talks are complete control over detainees and an end to night raids by coalition forces.
The night raids against "high-value" targets -- Taliban commanders and others suspected of playing major roles in the insurgency -- are a linchpin of the U.S.-led coalition's strategy in Afghanistan. Coalition officials say the raids will not stop, although they stress that Afghan forces take part in every mission."
post-gazette.com
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