America's Secret Afghan Prisons

So, the Afghanistan portion of this topic alone is pretty gigantic. Potential affirmatives range from scaling back U.S. counter-insurgency missions and counter-narcotics forces, to affirmatives that deal with the entire range of U.S. military bases in Afghanistan. One area that will, no doubt, receive some attention from debaters is the U.S. military and police presence dedicated to maintaining detention facilities in Afghanistan. This will likely include a discussion of the infamous Bagram Theater Internment Facility ( aka "Obama's Guantanamo") at Bagram Air Force base as well as the 9 or so FDS's (Field Detention Facilities) that have cropped up since the criticism of detention camps at Bagram AFB first hit the scene.

The allegations of torture and murder at these facilities are shocking. See full accounts here and here. An excerpt from Anand Gopal's article in the Feb. 10 issue of The Nation follows:

Some of those taken to the Field Detention Sites are deemed innocuous and never sent to Bagram. Even then, some allege abuse. Such was the case with Hajji Ehsanullah, snatched one winter night in 2008 from his home in the southern province of Zabul. He was taken to a detention site in Khost Province, some 200 miles away. He returned home thirteen days later, his skin scarred by dog bites and with memory difficulties that, according to his doctor, resulted from a blow to the head. American forces had dropped him off at a gas station in Khost after three days of interrogation. It took him ten more days to find his way home.

Others taken to these sites seem to have disappeared entirely. In the hardscrabble villages of the Pashtun south, where rumors grow more abundantly than the most bountiful crop, locals whisper tales of people who were captured and executed. Most have no evidence. But occasionally a body turns up. Such was the case at a detention site on a US military base in Helmand Province, where in 2003 a US military coroner wrote in the autopsy report of a detainee who died in US custody (later made available through the Freedom of Information Act): "Death caused by the multiple blunt force injuries to the lower torso and legs complicated by rhabdomyolysis (release of toxic byproducts into the system due to destruction of muscle). Manner of death is homicide."

In the dust-swept province of Khost one day this past December, US forces launched a night raid on the village of Motai, killing six people and capturing nine, according to nearly a dozen local government authorities and witnesses. Two days later, the bodies of two of those detained--plastic cuffs binding their hands--were found more than a mile from the largest US base in the area. A US military spokesman denies any involvement in the deaths and declines to comment on the details of the raid. Local Afghan officials and tribal elders steadfastly maintain that the two were killed while in US custody. American authorities released four other villagers in subsequent days. The fate of the three remaining captives is unknown.

Of course, engaging the question of detention facilities raises the related question of counter-insurgency operations altogether. What role do Special Forces play in stabilizing or destabilizing Afghanistan, how can the U.S. military deal with "high value" suspects, and a whole host of other complicated questions. Negative ground in this area will likely require some kind of counterplan that works to stabilize Afghanistan in another way and/or counterplans that reform the detention process rather than closing any facilities.

For more on Afghan (and Iraq) detention facilities see the following
* "Obama's Secret Prisons in Afghanistan Endanger Us All." Johann Hari, The Independent. Feb. 12, 2010.

* "Closing GITMO is Just the Beginning." Max Fisher, The Atlantic. Feb. 1, 2010.
* "US. and Allies Must Detain Afghan Prisoners." Max Boot. The Washington Post. Dec. 29, 2009.
* Winning in Afghanistan: Creating Effective Afghan Security Forces. Anthony Cordesman, David Kasten, Adam Mausner. 2009.
* "The Afghan Detention Dilemma." Scott Horton. Harpers. Dec. 29, 2009.
* "Tribe and Prejudice: America's New Hope in Afghanistan." Joshua Foust. The National. Feb. 11, 2010.