U.S., Afghanistan agree on transfer of detainees

KABUL, Afghanistan – More than 3,000 detainees held by the U.S. military will be transferred to Afghan control within six months under an agreement signed Friday between the United States and Afghanistan.

While the United States will retain the power to veto any detainee’s release, the prisoner agreement meets a key demand of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government as the two sides try to hammer out the details of U.S. engagement in Afghanistan following the expected end of American combat operations by 2014.

The first batch of about 500 detainees is likely to be transferred within 45 days from the U.S.-run detention center at the Bagram military complex, north of Kabul.

The agreement would apply only to Afghan detainees, said a senior U.S. official involved in the negotiations. About 50 non-Afghans – primarily al-Qaida suspects from Pakistan, Arab countries and elsewhere – will remain in U.S. custody at Bagram.

The U.S. will build 11 new units at Bagram to house the detainees, as well as nine units at Pul-e-Charki prison on the outskirts of Kabul.

The agreement comes after protracted and at times tense negotiations between U.S. and Afghan officials. Recent media reports have suggested U.S. negotiators threatened to abandon the talks.