The U.S. military is supposed to turn its massive jail on the outskirts of Bagram Air Field over to the Afghan government this year. But the U.S. is going to keep holding detainees in Afghanistan for a long, looooong time to come — as new military construction contracts reveal.
One of the big unanswered questions of the plan to give the Detention Facility at Parwan to the Afghans is what happens to insurgents U.S. troops detain in the future. Rumors abound about secret, off-the-books jails kept by Special Operations Forces, but those are supposed to be only for insurgents suspected of possessing high-level intelligence. Where will the rest go?
Here’s a clue. The Army Corps of Engineers is just hired an Afghan contractor to build a new “U.S. government controlled detention facility.” The lockup has to include “4 Modular Detention Housing Units (MDHU), 1 Special Holding Unit (SHU), guard towers, to include utilities, communications, fencing and related site work.” It’s got to be built fast — as in, by November — and so the Afghan firm got a no-bid contract of unspecified value.
That’s just for starters. After that facility goes up — and it’s unclear where it’ll be built — the Army will hold an open competition for an even larger detention center, awarding a contract worth $46 million. That facility will consist of seven modular detention units and a “Special Holding Unit.” More >>>
