Afghan President Hamid Karzai has issued a decree for the quick closure of a US prison located at Kandahar Airfield in the troubled southern province of Kandahar in Afghanistan.
Foreign-run prisons have been a source of tension between Washington and Kabul since 2012, with infamous cases of torture and deaths capturing headlines on a regular basis.
In February, the Afghan government released 65 detainees from another US-run notorious prison at Bagram Air Base despite pressure from American officials who claimed the prisoners were dangerous militants.
The US military had warned Kabul that the militants were linked to attacks that had left around 30 NATO forces and nearly two dozen Afghans dead or wounded.
The move by the Afghan government sparked a firm rebuke from American representatives.
Kabul said there was insufficient evidence to continue to hold the inmates, who were imprisoned without judicial review by Afghan authorities.
Many of the detainees were captured by US-led forces during military operations in the country since 2001.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly accused Washington of harassing the Afghan judiciary.
In November 2012, Karzai ordered the country’s forces to take control of the Bagram Detention Center, saying US officials had failed to fully comply with the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding on Detentions signed between Kabul and Washington.
GMA/AB/SS
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