The Army file reportedly says prison guards routinely shackled inmates to the ceilings of their cells, deprived them of sleep, kicked and beat prisoners, sexually humiliated them, and threatened them with guard dogs.

It also details the gruesome facts leading to the deaths of two Afghan inmates in December 2002. Dilawar, a 22-year-old taxi driver was one of those tortured to death. He was detained at Bagram after driving passengers past a U.S. military base at Camp Salerno, which was the target of a rocket attack that morning. The three passengers in Dilawar’s taxi were eventually taken to Guantánamo where they were held for more than a year. Dilawar was reportedly chained by his wrists to the top of his cell for days.

This treatment of prisoners by U.S. guards in Afghanistan is similar to the well-known abuse of inmates in U.S.-run prisons in Iraq and mirrors widespread practices throughout the prison system in the United States.

“I was shouting and crying, and no one was listening,” said Abdur Rahim, a 26-year-old baker from Khost, commenting on his treatment upon first being incarcerated at Bagram, according to the New York Times. “When I was shouting, the soldiers were slamming my head against the desk.”

Shortly after these reports appeared in the media, Afghan president Hamid Karzai paid a visit to the United States where he met with President George Bush. Karzai announced that he would press Washington to turn over to Afghan authorities in Kabul the prisoners detained by the U.S. military. He also said that breaking into people’s homes by U.S. troops, “must not be done without the permission of the Afghan government.”

Bush responded that the many Afghan prisoners held at the U.S. military base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba—on soil occupied by Washington against the will of the Cuban people—will be sent back to Afghanistan “over time,” essentially refusing Karzai’s request. “Part of the issue is to make sure there is a place where the prisoners can be held,” Bush claimed.

In a joint news conference with Karzai on May 23, Bush also made clear that all the operations of the 18,300 U.S. troops in Afghanistan will remain under control of U.S. military commanders, who would “cooperate and consult” with Afghan authorities. A joint declaration by Bush and Karzai stressed that U.S. forces “will continue to have access to Bagram Air Base and its facilities” and that “the U.S. and Coalition forces are to continue to have the freedom of action required to conduct appropriate military operations.”  
 
 
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