US, UK-run secret jails found in Afghanistan

An Afghan fact-finding committee says it has uncovered secret jails in southern Afghanistan run by US-led foreign forces.

According to the reports, the commission, appointed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to probe jails run by US and British forces in the country, made the revelation on Saturday.

“We have conducted a thorough investigation and search of Kandahar Airfield and Camp Bastion and found several illegal and unlawful detention facilities run and operated by foreign military forces,” said Abdul Shakur Dadras, the head of the committee.

Dadras also noted that the committee members were sent to Kandahar and Helmand provinces to review the jails on two foreign forces’ bases, Kandahar Airfield, controlled by the US forces, and Camp Bastion that is run by the UK military.

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement later in the day that it was aware of “their investigative team looking into the detention facilities in Kandahar and Helmand and we are cooperating fully with the investigation on this matter.”

The issue is considered as the latest dispute over the detention of Afghans by US-led foreign forces.

Earlier this year, Afghan government freed dozens of detainees held in the US-run Bagram prison.