AFGHAN NATIONAL DETENTION FACILITY OPENS MARCH 25;

S E C R E T KABUL 001078 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR P, SCA/FO (DAS GASTRIGHT),SCA/A (SINGRAM),S/WCI (MSTAMILIO),L/PM (EPELOFSKY) NSC FOR AHARRIMAN OSD FOR ARICCI CENTCOM FOR CG CJTF-82, POLAD, CSTC-A, SOUTHCOM, JTF-GTMO E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/18/2017 TAGS: KAWC MARR PTER PGOV PINS PREL AF SUBJECT: AFGHAN NATIONAL DETENTION FACILITY OPENS MARCH 25; TRANSFERS OF EVIDENCE CONTINUE REF: A. MARCH 28 DUSKA-INGRAM E-MAIL ¶B. KABUL 956 ¶C. KABUL 05850 Classified By: Political-Military Affairs Counselor Carol A. Rodley; re asons 1.4(b) and (d) ¶1. (SBU) This is an Action request. Please see paragraph 9. -------------- ANDF March 25 Opening, Press Reaction -------------- ¶2. (S/NF) The Afghan National Detention Facility (ANDF) in the Pol-e-Charkhi prison compound was opened formally and the 300-member Detainee Guard Force (DGF) graduated on March 25 at a ceremony in honor of ANDF commander Brigadier General Safiullah. Defense Minister Wardak, Meshrano Jirga Speaker and head of the Peace and Reconciliation Program ("Program Tahkim-e Solh"--PTS) Mojadeddi, CSTC-A's Commander and the Polish Deputy Commanding General for International Security Cooperation, and other Afghan, CSTC-A, and CJTF-82 general officers attended; polmiloff represented the Embassy. The Ministry of Defense (MOD) did not invite staff of the Office of the National Security Council (ONSC). Deputy Commander Oryakhil, the subject of reftel C Leahy concerns, attended, but BG Safiullah explained his attendance to CSTC-A as a face-saving gesture only and confirmed he has been reassigned. The ceremony included a riot control demonstration during which several guard force members dressed as detainees were "subdued" and frequent references to a DGF member killed in the February 27 suicide bombing at Bagram. ¶3. (S/NF) Ahead of the ceremony, Defense Minister Wardak expressed concern to US generals and polimiloff that the ANDF would be a burden for MOD. Polmiloff assured him that while MOD was represented on the Detainee Review Board (reftel B), plans are for the prosecutorial burden to be borne by the national security and civil courts, not the MOD court system. The Defense Minister did not seem mollified and later at a celebratory lunch also did not seem receptive to congratulations. (CSTC-A Comment: MinDef,s concerns may be less related to the administrative or logistical burden of the ANDF but more that he would prefer to put the trained soldiers on the battlefield. End comment) ¶4. (SBU) MOD invited international and domestic press including AP, Reuters, and al-Jazeera, and CSTC-A used coordinated guidance (reftel B). Most Afghan TV, radio, and newspaper sources carried short reports about the new guard force unit's future responsibility for protecting Afghans now in Guantanamo Bay (GTMO) and Bagram and stressed detainees will be handed over to the GOA in the near future. The independent daily Weesa commented "Getting inmates transferred from Guantanamo and Bagram to Pol-e-Charkhi prison and fulfilling the duty of the Afghan forces to defend and protect territorial integrity could have a positive and constructive impact on the country's fate....The more the international community relies on the Afghan people, the more support it will attract." Afghan Radio and TV sources later cited a Presidential spokesman as saying that all Afghan prisoners would be transferred to Pol-e-Charkhi "in a few days." ONSC Situation Room Director Zia Salehi told polmiloff on March 29 that the statement should have indicated transfers will be "soon" but that ONSC did not plan to issue a clarification since the opening was no longer attracting press attention. Post has seen no international coverage of the opening or about initial transfers. -------------- -------------- Relay of Evidence Continues; Translation Issues -------------- -------------- ¶5. (S) Polmiloff informed ONSC's Salehi on March 29 that 12 detainees would now be transferred initially; transfers of two others originally scheduled for the first transfer are on hold. In addition to the 13 sanitized and translated case files passed to GOA on March 11, polmiloff passed the following on March 29: A) A list of all Afghan prisoners in GTMO as received from CSTC-A on March 28, B) Notes in Dari taken by GOA prosecutorial teams at BTIF for the 14 cases originally planned for the first transfer, C) GOA notes in Dari for 42 cases slated for the next round of transfers, D) GOA notes in Dari for 10 cases that the GOA teams indicated required further investigation before prosecution, and E) the BTIF Order of Merit list of all 238 cases BTIF now plans to transfer, all of which were reviewed by GOA investigative teams. It should be noted that the 10 "D" cases were proposed for transfer by OSD but are not on the current BTIF Order of Merit list. Post therefore recommends that files for these 10 cases be translated as soon as possible and passed to GOA. ¶6. (S) Salehi, who has extensive experience as a translator and interpreter, commented that some of the case file translations received on March 11 were not readable. Polmiloff requested samples of problematic translations to pass to CSTC-A so translation and quality control issues can be addressed. CJTF-82 has advised post that a new unit of six translators will begin translating case files shortly. ¶7. (S) GTMO advised CSTC-A that case files for Afghan detainees at GTMO are being translated into Pashto. Salehi advised it is acceptable if the first files received are in Pashto but stated that Dari is the preferred language. Since at this point we do not know who will be preparing cases for prosecution, post recommends that GTMO produce Dari translations of case files. ¶8. (S) Post is tracking relays of evidence via a spreadsheet that will be shared with GOA, CSTC-A, CJTF-82, and SCA. -------------- GOA Delegation to GTMO -------------- ¶9. (S) Action Request: CSTC-A advised that OSD Detainee Affairs recommended the Department task post to request the GOA designate a small delegation of professional investigators to visit GTMO to interview all Afghan detainees and assess cases for potential prosecution. CSTC-A recommends that COL Khadigul Hamdard of the Ministry of Interior and COL Abdul Jalil Muldafi of the National Directorate of Security be part of the delegation since both have extensive experience in interviewing Afghan detainees at BTIF. Consul here has advised that visas could take two months or more to arrange. CSTC-A and post also recommend that polmiloff visit GTMO to discuss the relay of evidence to ONSC and other transfer-related issues. Post requests instructions via front channel regarding these proposed visits. NEUMANN