WASHINGTON (PAN): The Parwan detention facility would be transferred to Afghan control by Monday, the Pentagon announced on Saturday, after the two countries reached an agreement in this regard, meeting one of the key demands of the Karzai government.
When the deal on the Bagram prison handover — a ticklish issue between the allies — was concluded, US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel spoke with President Hamid Karzai, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said.
“Secretary Hagel spoke with Karzai this morning about an agreement reached today to transfer the detention facility in Parwan to the sovereign control of Afghanistan on Monday,” he added.
The agreement follows an intensified round of discussions this week between US and Afghan officials, he said in a statement.
Hagel welcomed Karzai’s commitment that the transfer would be carried out in a way that ensured the safety of the Afghan people and coalition forces by keeping dangerous individuals detained in a secure and humane manner in accordance with Afghan law, Little said.
Last year, the US agreed to shift responsibility for most of the over 3,000 detainees at the jail and held a transfer ceremony in September. But American soldiers stayed at the detention facility, controlling the area around it.
A fortnight back, a prisoner transfer ceremony was scuttled because of differences between ISAF commander, Gen. Joseph Dunford, and President Karzai. But hectic negotiations, encouraged by the new US defence chief, led to a resolution of the dispute
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