GIROA TO RELEASE 4 GTMO DETAINEES

S E C R E T KABUL 000332

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/21/2020
TAGS: PREL PGOV AF
SUBJECT: GIROA TO RELEASE 4 GTMO DETAINEES

Classified By: Deputy Ambassador Francis J. Ricciardone for Reasons 1.4
(B) and(D)


1. (S) SUMMARY: Afghan government officials told us
January 19 they plan to release four Afghan detainees whom
DoD had transferred from Guantanamo as soon as
possible.,, GIRoA has been holding these detainees in the
Afghan National Detention Facility (ANDF) since December 20,
asking that the U.S. provide prosecutable evidence in two of
the more serious cases. However, the U.S. has been unable to
provide what Afghan Attorney General Aloko considers
sufficient evidence to prosecute the cases. Aloko has also
asked whether the U.S. will offer reintegration support for
these soon-to-be-released individuals. Recognizing that
former GTMO detainees are heavily recruited by insurgents for
propaganda and/or combat purposes, we are working with U.S.
military detentions Joint Task Force 435 to identify what
level of support we can offer to lessen the chances that
these detainees will return to the battlefield, while
underscoring to GIRoA our view that they also bear
responsibility for providing returnees with incentive and
opportunity to peacefully reintegrate. END SUMMARY.


2. (S) Afghan government officials told Embassy officers
January 19 they plan to release four Afghan detainees whom
DoD had transferred from Guantanamo as soon as possible.
Both Karzai,s Chief of Staff and the Afghan National
Security Council have pressured the AG to carefully review
the two most troublesome files - those of Abdul Kakal Hafis
(AF 1030) who according to GTMO files was involved in the
murder of an ICRC worker in Kandahar in 2002; and, Mohammad
Hashim (AF 850),who, according to GTMO files, was likely
part of the 40-man unit responsible for the assassination of
Afghan Vice President Haji Abdul Qadir in 2002. According to
GTMO files the two additional detainees are: Sharifullah
Sharifullah (AF 944),who was arrested in possession of an
improvised explosive device and Mohammad Rahim (AF 1104),who
worked for a cooperative which sold supplies to the Taliban.


3. (SBU) Three days before the detainees were transferred to
Afghanistan, the Embassy provided the Attorney General (AG),
Afghan National Security Council and the Presidential Palace
with the releasable version of each detainees, GTMO file,
which we received from OSD. The Aloko Commission, however,
headed by the AG and established to review detention cases,
found that the files lacked evidence compelling enough for
successful prosecution. The Afghan government continued to
detain these individuals to allow time both for its own
agencies to investigate these cases, and for the USG to
declassify and release additional evidence. JTF 435 received
some further information from Guantanamo, but nothing
sufficient for prosecution. JTF 435 continues to work with
the Foreign Disclosures Office at GTMO to classify additional
evidence as releasable to the Afghans.


4. (SBU) COMMENT: Presidential Chief of Staff Mohammad
Omer Daudzai told Deputy Ambassador Ricciardone on December
17, that despite Karzai,s usual reluctance to prosecute
alleged members of the Taliban without evidence of ties to Al
Qaeda or to terrorist acts, We want to prosecute these
cases, but you have to give us the evidence to do it. We
believe that GIRoA has made a good faith effort to find their
own evidence to prosecute these two most recent cases, but
concluded that the available evidence does not rise to the
level necessary to mount a successful legal action.


5. (S) Consequently, the Embassy is working with JTF-435 to
determine how best to identify reintegration support and
monitor these men as they are released into Afghan society,
while reminding GIRoA of our view that they also bear
responsibility for providing Afghan GTMO returnees with
incentives and opportunities peacefully to reintegrate.
Nonetheless, we must face the fact that neither GIRoA nor the
USG now appear able or willing to provide reintegration
support sufficient enough to keep all four of these
individuals from returning to the battlefield or becoming
Taliban recruiters. According to military intelligence,
approximately 20 percent of GTMO detainees return to
insurgency after release. We and JTF 435 are pushing GIRoA
to take responsibility for these individuals, including by
coordinating basic reintegration support and monitoring them
and their actions, for example, through sustained GIRoA
liaison with the communities to which these individuals
return. We will coordinate whatever support we may be able
to muster with the Afghan National Security Council staff,
who in November offered to work with us on such cases.
EIKENBERRY