Bagram Airport

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(PD) Photo: Jim Garamone / DoD
Wrecked aircraft at Bagram Aircraft, early 2002.

The Bagram Airport (variously Bagram Air Base, Bagram Airfield) is a large airport approximately 60 km northwest of Afghanistan's capital of Kabul.^[1]

During the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan the Soviet Union built extensive military facilities at the airfield.^[1]

After the 2001 American invasion that ousted the Taliban a primitive facility for the extrajudicial detention of captives was built in one of the derelict Soviet era hangars.^[1] American GIs beat several captives to death in this facility in 2002. The facility was supposed to be temporary, but, as of 2008, it contains over three times as many captives as the better known Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. Due to its role as a Soviet hangar, the current facility is contaminated with heavy metals, and asbestos, and has been posing a health and safety risk for the captives and their guards.

References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Eric Schmitt, Tim Golden. "U.S. Planning Big New Prison in Afghanistan", New York Times, Saturday, May 17, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-05-17. mirror