US No Longer Has Detainees in Closed Afghan Detention Facilities: Pentagon

The US Department of Defense announced that the US no longer operates or maintains custody of any detainees in Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON, December 11 (Sputnik) — The United States no longer operates or has detainees in its Afghanistan detention facilities, Department of Defense (DOD) spokesperson Mark Wright told Sputnik.

"After careful review by the Defense Department and the Department of State, US Forces-Afghanistan has transferred the last third-country nationals held in US custody in Afghanistan," Wright told Sputnik Wednesday. "Effective December 10, 2014, the Defense Department no longer operates detention facilities in Afghanistan nor maintains custody of any detainees. "

Wright said that the Afghanistan Government would now be responsible for all detention facilities in the country, once the Bilateral Security Agreement, which the United States and Afghanistan signed in September to reduce its military presence by 2015 and fully withdraw forces by the end of 2016 takes effect at the beginning of the new year.

The closure of the US detention facilities and release of detainees in Afghanistan follows the release of the CIA report on its detention and interrogation techniques.

On Tuesday, the US Senate Select Intelligence Committee released a 500-page report summary, detailing their investigation into the CIA interrogation techniques used on alleged al-Qaeda agents after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in detention centers across the United States and abroad.