Not only were the prisoners released from prison and the civilians who came to greet them bombed, but the U.S. military has brutally abused the prisoners there for nearly 20 years, making it known as the Guantanamo of Afghanistan.
Fahim, a former inmate at Bagram Prison: One night I was taken away as soon as I got home because I was a member of the Afghan Taliban.
Although reluctant to reveal more personal information, Fahim has a lot to say about what happened to him there.
Fahim, a former inmate at Bagram Prison: We survived on a little food, they didn't let us sleep, they made noise around them with chains, and all the blankets and mats in the cell were taken away. They also turned on the air conditioner and air conditioning, and we were detained in this state for ten consecutive days, after which we all got colds and could not move our bodies or walk on our legs. When they took us to the doctor, they tied heavy chains around us, and the doctor only prescribed us some painkillers.
During his two years in prison in Bagram, Fahim said, he was unable to receive visits and did not make a single phone call to his home. Not only are basic human rights such as food and clothing, sleep, and medical care not guaranteed, but they are often beaten.
Isatura, who is currently serving in the same military camp as Fahim, had a similar experience. He was imprisoned in Bagram prison because of his ties to the Afghan Taliban, and was once imprisoned in a dark single-room cell and subjected to all kinds of inhumane abuse.
Isatura, a former inmate at Bagram Prison: There are very harsh and cruel punishments here, such as dog bites and electric shocks.
The prison, which is full of U.S. military abuse crimes, is located close to Bagram Air Force Base.
Yang Yuan: We now see out of the window is Bagram Air Base, which was once the largest military base of the US military in Afghanistan, and since the withdrawal of us troops last year, it has been empty and no longer noisy.
After the United States launched the war in Afghanistan in 2001, it soon began to detain a large number of Taliban members, suspected terrorists and even ordinary civilians here. In 2002, two inmates at Bagram Prison were tortured to death within a week. According to the New York Times, until 2006, the vast majority of the 15 U.S. troops indicted were not punished in any way, and spent at most five months in military prisons. In 2012, the Afghan Constitutional Oversight Commission published a report identifying detainees in Bagram prisons as being beaten and ill-treated. The afghan president at the time asked the authorities to take over Bagram Prison from the US military, but according to people familiar with the matter, the actual controller of the prison is still the US military. Until U.S. troops evacuated Bagram Air Base in July 2021, an Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman revealed that about 5,000 people were still held in Bagram Prison. CNN, citing an anonymous official, reported that about 7,000 people were being held. And the torture and abuse of the US military has left them with a shadow that they cannot erase for a lifetime.
Isatura, a former inmate at Bagram Prison: The U.S. military doesn't understand human rights at all, they're like barbarians.
Fahim, a former prisoner at Bagram Prison: The US military shouts human rights slogans, but in fact it violates human rights here, and anyone who has been held in Bagram Prison will not forgive the US military. (Reporter Yang Yuan)