US hands over formal control of Bagram prison to the Afghan government
KABUL - U.S. officials have handed over formal control of a prison housing thousands of Taliban and terror suspects to the Afghan government, even as disagreements between Washington and Kabul over their detention mar the transfer.
President Hamid Karzai has hailed the transfer of Bagram prison, Afghanistan's only large-scale U.S.-run detention facility, as a victory for Afghan sovereignty.
The handover ceremony took place Monday at the prison next to a sprawling U.S. airfield in Bagram, north of Kabul.
The U.S. already gave Afghanistan authority over most of the 3,000 detainees at the base before March 9, when the countries signed a handover agreement.
The U.S. recently suspended the transfer of new detainees apparently because of disagreements with Kabul, which has questioned the long-term detention of suspects without charge after their capture.
