Military says steps taken to avoid abuse

KABUL, Afghanistan – The U.S. military said Wednesday it has at least six open cases of prisoners who died in custody in Afghanistan dating to 2002, but claimed it has taken steps to ensure against abuse of detainees.

Amid the fallout over abuse of prisoners in Iraq, Brig. Gen. Charles Jacoby Jr. was dispatched in May to examine treatment of current detainees at the two U.S. prisons and 20 “field holding sites” in Afghanistan. His report, which is still under review with no time set for release, found no evidence of abuse, Maj. Mark McCann said at a news conference Wednesday in Kabul.

However, the report does not examine earlier incidents, including the deaths of prisoners, and the Washington Post has reported that Jacoby found many shortcomings, including inadequate enforcement of approved interrogation rules.

“We can’t go back and change the past,” McCann said. “What we can do is ensure that there are conditions in place now for in the future, where we ensure that this stuff will not happen again.”

Pentagon officials earlier this week put the number of prisoner deaths in Afghanistan that have been investigated since mid-2002 at eight, a higher number than previously reported.

McCann said three of the fatalities remain under investigation and three are pending judicial disposition. One case is complete, but he would not provide details. He did not know the status of the eighth.

He would not say how many detainees U.S. forces are holding in Afghanistan and declined media requests to visit the detention facilities, saying it would violate Geneva Conventions rules on treatment of prisoners of war.

“We’re not allowed to put them on display, period, because it would seem like we would be exploiting them,” McCann said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross is allowed to meet with detainees and inspect the main prisons at Bagram air base outside Kabul and in the southern city of Kandahar, but not the 20 “field holding sites” scattered around the country that process detainees before they are transferred to one of the larger facilities, McCann said.

Jacoby’s inspection covered all 22 sites.