World

Taliban Take Over Bagram Detention Centre

Taliban have taken over Guantánamo Bay, a detention centre built by the Americans inside the huge Bagram military base.

Gatekeepers News reports that after the American troops left hurriedly in August, the Taliban unlocked all the cells to free hundreds of suspect which include ISIS-K prisoners, from an affiliate of the Islamic State terrorist group.

The Taliban are currently manning the gates of the huge sprawling military base which grew into a small city and was the coalition’s main military hub during its 20-year-long military mission.

The detention centre was initially built by Russian invaders in the 1950s but the Americans extended it to include a gym, a 50-bed hospital and the much-feared detention centre.

The military, in the detention centre, housed and interrogated the Taliban fighters they caught in battle or suspects they feared would end up on the battlefield.

Some were viewed as high-ranking terror suspects but there were also hundreds of ordinary Afghans – farmers, stallholders, students and Taliban sympathisers deemed dangerous or suspicious.

Gatekeepers News reports that the detainees were held, sometimes for years, without charges or trials.

According to reports, the interrogation rooms are heavily padded to ensure they’re sound-proofed and the Taliban fighters have vowed revenge.

“All of the Talibs are ready to carry out suicide car bombs to avenge this,” one told Sky News.

“They’re not scared… We do this for Allah, not profit… America has lots of money but they’re not willing to blow themselves up. The Taliban will sit in a car with a bomb, drive it and set it off. We’ve made sacrifices before and after this we will again. We are suicide attackers.”

One of the Taliban who was held in Bagram for two-and-a-half years told the news medium he was tortured.

“Every time you broke one of their rules – like having a nail cutter – you were punished and tortured,” says Aziz Ahmad Shabir.

“They put me in a room alone for a month and made the cell very cold. Now I’m mentally sick and my mind is not working well… in the two-and-a-half years I was held here, a lot of damage was done to my head.”

He said he was a farmer when he was seized.

When asked why he was arrested, he smiled saying “because I’m a Muslim.”

Fehintola Ambali-Salam

Recent Posts

Tinubu Salutes Nigerian Workers On May Day

President Bola Tinubu has congratulated Nigerian workers on the auspicious occasion of Workers' Day held…

4 hours ago

GPHCDA 2024 Management Retreat: Fubara Commits To Making Greater Port Harcourt City A Model

The Greater Port Harcourt City 2024 Management Retreat was recently held from April 26 to…

4 hours ago

NLC Rejects 35% Pay Rise – Insists On N615k Living Wage

The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, has expressed his concerns over…

4 hours ago

JUST IN: New Minimum Wage Will Take Effect From May 2024 – FG

Federal Government of Nigeria says although the Tripartite Committee On National Minimum Wage is yet…

5 hours ago

Increasing Minimum Wage Won’t Hurt Inflation – TUC President

Festus Osifo, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) President, has stated that increasing the minimum wage…

5 hours ago

24 Dead After Highway Collapses

On Wednesday, heavy rains caused a part of a highway to collapse in Guangdong province,…

5 hours ago