Does the US Still Maintain Secret Prisons in Afghanistan?

Does the US Still Maintain Secret Prisons in Afghanistan?
By Jim White | FireDogLake

Yesterday, Vice Admiral Robert Harward, in a conference call with bloggers, responded to a question from Spencer Ackerman about the issue of secret prisons in Afghanistan. Harward has served under General Stanley McChrystal, the current commander of US forces in Afghanistan, for many years and his current position is "command, control, oversight, and responsibility for U.S. detention and correction operations in Afghanistan". Here is Ackerman’s report on Harward’s response:

Harward said unequivocally that “all detainees under my command have access to the International [Committee of the] Red Cross.” The admiral suggested that The Times may have misconstrued “field detention sites” where detainees are initially in-processed for “a very short period” before transfer to detention facilities like the Parwan facility at Bagram, since the locations are undisclosed for operational security reasons.

“There are no black-jail secret prisons,” Harward said. “We do have field detention sites we do not disclose, but they’re held there for very short periods, and then they’re moved — if they’re determined to need additional internment, they’re moved to the detention facility at Parwan or released.”

Taken at face value, Harward’s response would suggest that the US has taken positive actions to put the bad history of secret detention sites behind us. However, given Harward’s personal role in that dark history, closer scrutiny of his response is warranted. Read more.