AFGHANISTAN: The US military, accused of abusing prisoners in Afghanistan, will allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit one of its secretive jails, a US military spokesman said yesterday.
The ICRC asked the US military three weeks ago to give it access to the Kandahar prison facility in southern Afghanistan, after fresh allegations of abuse surfaced.
Lieut-General David Barno, overall commander of about 20,000 US-led troops in Afghanistan, has accepted the ICRC's request for the visit, a spokesman for the US military said.
Details of the visit would be worked out between the ICRC and the US military, the spokesman, Lieut-Col Tucker Mansager, said.
"It was not something that was hastily considered," he said in Kabul, when asked why it took three weeks to accept the ICRC request. "I would say that the ICRC and the coalition, the Afghan people . . . are better served by (a) deliberate, considered decision and we stand by that."
About 380 prisoners, including militants from Afghanistan's former Taliban regime toppled from power by US-led forces in late 2001 and their al-Qaeda allies, are being held at about 20 US detention centres in the country. - (Reuters)