WHAT. THE. FUCK.?
More than 500 suspected Taliban fighters detained by U.S. forces have been released from custody at the urging of Afghan government officials, angering both American troops and some Afghans who oppose the policy on the grounds that many of those released return to the battlefield to kill NATO soldiers and Afghan civilians.
And those numbers understate the problem, military officials say. They do not include suspected Taliban fighters held in small combat outposts or other forward operating bases throughout the region who are released before they ever become part of the official detainee population.
An Afghan official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that President Hamid Karzai’s government has personally sought the release of as many as 700 suspected Taliban fighters since July, including some mid-level leaders. “Corruption is not just based on the amount of money that is wasted but wasted lives when Taliban return only to kill more NATO forces and civilians,” said the official, who opposes what he considers corruption in the Karzai administration.
U.S. Air Force Maj. Karen Davis, a spokeswoman in Kabul, told The Washington Examiner “nearly 500 detainees held in the [detention facility in Parwan] have been released outright or transferred to the [Afghan government] for disposition under Afghan law” so far this year.
She did not comment on detainees held at other facilities throughout the country, dozens of whom have been released, according to U.S. military officials in Afghanistan. Parwan is the main prison facility located at Bagram Airfield, just north of the capital of Kabul.
Davis added “nearly 200 of those 500 [at Bagram] have been released” since July.
The criteria for detention is not based upon a particular affiliation, such as the Taliban, “but rather is an assessment based upon a preponderance of evidence that an individual participated in the conflict as an enemy combatant and, if so, detention is necessary to mitigate the threat posed to the government and people of Afghanistan, the U.S. and its coalition partners,” Davis said.
The Detainee Review Board, made up of three U.S. commissioned officers with a rank of major or above, determines when a prisoner is eligible for release and whether a detainee is likely to be rehabilitated.
Prisoners held at the Bagram facility are not considered guilty or innocent but rather a determination is made “based upon evidence that detention is necessary to mitigate the threat the detainee poses to the government and people of Afghanistan, the U.S. and its coalition partners,” states a document provided by the International Security Assistance Force.
Earlier this year, The Examiner reported that numerous insurgents captured in Pakistan, including some members of al Qaeda, were returned to Afghanistan upon the request of the Karzai government, and then, according to a senior Pakistani official, “released back to the Taliban as bargaining chips in negotiations.”
……For American combat troops in Afghanistan, the release of suspect Taliban is seen as a symptom of the corruption of the Karzai government.
“Back-room dealings between Karzai officials and local government connected to the Taliban make NATO’s work almost impossible,” said a military official stationed in Afghanistan. “They call the shots, and we’ve got to release the bad guys.”
http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/world/2010/12/catch-and-release-taliban-fighters-afghanistan-angers-troops
Dear Detainee Review Board,
Do you think it would be possible to grow a set of gonads and tell Karzai not only NO, but FUCK NO? Of course the Poser-in-Chief approves of this and has no plans to allow the military to fight this war the right way because “winning isn’t necessarily the goal”.
I am so glad I retired while GW was president. I feel for the troops who are stuck serving under a waste of skin who has more concern for illegal aliens, traitors, leftwing radicals, and enemy muzzie combatants, than directing the Army to go in, kick ass, take names, and make sure Islamofascist pigs think twice before picking a fight with the Great Satan.
Gawd help the troops and this country survive the next two years. Republicans take heed: you will soon be in a position to stop a lot of this bullshit and put this country on the right course with this war. A good start would be a few “surprise visits” to Afghanistan to ask the detainee review board if they’ve lost their fucking minds, then take Karzai in a back room and ream his ass.
If WWII were fought this way, we’d all be speaking Japanese, German, or Italian whether we liked it or not.