Ex-Bagram detainees lead battles in Helmand

LASHKARGAH (Pajhwok): Police said Taliban commanders, who had been released from the Bagram Jail in central Parwan province, currently spearheaded battles against government forces in southern Helmand province.

Helmand police chief Brig. Gen. Juma Gul Himmat told reporters in Lashkargah that security forces had detained five insurgents during an operation in the Marja district on Friday.

He said the detainees had newly been released from the Bagram detention centre and they had rejoined the battlefield.

Another two rebel commanders, detained in a day earlier in northern districts of the province, had recently been released, he said.

Yet another commander, Quraishi, an ex-Bagram detainee, had returned to the fight, Himmat said.

He claimed Taliban commanders, who had been released from Bagram, currently led the fighting in various northern districts, particularly Sangin.

He said the released commanders posed a serious security threat to the province and urged the central government to avoid releasing such detainees.

“These commanders make a beeline to the battlefield after their releases and enter clashes with Afghan security forces,” the police chief said.

Himmat said a joint police-military search operation would be launched soon in northern districts of Helmand to target militants and drug smugglers creating insecurity.

Over the past one and a half years, thousands of detainees have been released from the Bagram Jail despite strong US opposition.

The US had called some of the released detainees as dangerous, but former president Hamid Karzai would defend their releases as a matter of Afghanistan’s sovereignty.

A civil society activist, Ahmad Shah Oryin, said the government should arrest those who had bailed out Taliban commanders.

He said the government should pay special attention to the problem in order to improve security situation in the province and reduce fatalities among Afghan security forces.

Political analyst Roohullah Ilham said some of the released insurgent leaders had proved to be more dangerous than the past.

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