Inside the abandoned US detention centre where Afghan terror suspects were ‘tortured’
The notorious detention centre built by the Americans inside the huge Bagram military base is a terrifying place even when empty.
It’s known locally as Afghanistan‘s Guantanamo. Those who were held here feared they’d never leave. Many who did leave have never been the same since.
We’re the first Western television team to get inside the infamous prison. Both the Americans and their Afghan security partners are particularly sensitive about outside eyes seeing inside.
The Taliban freed prisoners when they took over Bagram airbase
Each room is dark and filled with abandoned belongings
A mechanic shop inside the facility
Abandoned American ammunition and oil kegs
We squeeze through twisted sheets of corrugated metal where captives forced their way out hours after the capital fell to the Taliban and only weeks after the US soldiers left the base in a hurry. The Taliban unlocked all the cells holding those who hadn’t been able to break out themselves – among them hundreds suspected of being ISIS-K prisoners, from an offshoot of the so-called Islamic State terrorist group.
Now the Taliban is 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. Originally built by Russian invaders in the 1950s, the Americans extended it to include a gym, a 50-bed hospital and the much-feared detention centre.
A deflated American football has been left behind
Taliban fighters pray inside the cells
In the detention centre, they 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.
They were held, sometimes for years, without charges or trials. The stories of torture, water boarding, abuse, beatings and mistreatment were rife.
It’s thought the prison could have been a breeding ground for radicalisation
Former president Hamid Karzai told Sky News in an interview he gave before the Taliban pushed out the Ashraf Ghani government that the existence of the Bagram detention centre and the terrible stories emanating from within it infuriated him and caused multiple fallouts between him and the American politicians he dealt with.
He never forgave his American partners for what happened inside Bagram detention centre.
“They were meant to come here for peace, not bomb villages and hold captives,” he told us in July.
Every dark, dank corridor and every ransacked room in the detention centre holds a story – and all of them seem grim.
The prison was known locally as Afghanistan’s Guantanamo
The Taliban flag flies on a checkpoint at the entrance to Bagram
There are dozens of scattered photographs of terrified-looking men, many of them young, staring out at the camera dressed in their orange prisoner suits, pressed up against height charts.
The interrogation rooms are heavily padded to ensure they’re sound-proofed and the lack of electricity means we are stumbling around in the dark using the lights on our mobile phones, which adds to the eeriness.
In one storeroom we find black-out goggles and earmuffs, probably used for sensory deprivation alongside piles and piles of orange suits, next to cable ties of varying lengths.
We’re joined by groups of Taliban fighters who are seeing the centre for the first time and now stand on top of the cages peering through them just like the US soldiers once did.
The Talibs wind their way down the steps leading into a windowless bricked ground floor where there are a series of steel cages which each housed about 30 captives.
Taliban fighters flip through books and rifle through the belongings
There’s a silence hanging over everyone looking at these scenes.
A few weeks ago, there were about 5,000 prisoners here and the noise must have been a constant cacophony of desperation.
The Talibs poke at the belongings – blankets and clothes and the odd orange suit left behind – and kiss every book of the Koran they see. One shakes his head.
Then spontaneously they pull out prayer mats and drop to their knees to pray for the thousands who lost so many years of their lives here.
Some of the Taliban militants drop to their knees to pray
Their American military guards believed they were routing the war on terror and holding some of the more dangerous men in the country – but without any due justice, many of the Afghans see what happened here very differently.
Even American commanders now admit holding hardened terror suspects alongside Taliban sympathisers and common criminals here led to mass indoctrination and radicalisation.
One of the praying Taliban fighters is in tears, constantly wiping his eyes. All of them are shocked and vowing revenge.
One of the Talibs starts crying and wiping his eyes
“All of the Talibs are ready to carry out suicide car bombs to avenge this,” one tells us.
“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.”
An armed Taliban fighter looks on
One of the Taliban who was held in Bagram for two-and-a-half years tells us 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 tells us he was a farmer when he was seized.
“Why were you arrested?” I ask.
“Because I’m a Muslim,” he replies, smiling.
We may never know the specifics of what any of them were accused of now but that assessment – which is now widespread in Afghanistan – is a dangerous one to be held against the coalition forces.
The Bagram detention facility may end up being known as one of the most successful recruitment centres for anti-Western terror networks.
At least 12 people have been killed in a suicide bombing outside the gates of a court in Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad, the country’s interior minister has said.
At least 27 other people were also wounded after the bomber detonated his explosives next to a police car.
Interior minister Mohsin Naqvi said the attacker tried to “enter the court premises but, failing to do so, targeted a police vehicle”.
Mr Naqvi added that authorities are “looking into all aspects” of the attack.
Pic: Reuters
Pic: AP
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the explosion, but authorities have recently struggled with a resurgent Pakistani Taliban.
The explosion, which was heard from miles away, occurred at a busy time of day when the area outside the court is typically crowded with hundreds of visitors attending hearings.
More than a dozen badly wounded people were screaming for help as ambulances rushed to the scene.
“People started running in all directions,” said Mohammad Afzal, who claimed he was at the court when he heard the blast.
Pic: Reuters
Pic: AP
Pakistani security forces earlier said they foiled an attempt by militants to take cadets hostage at an army-run college overnight, when a suicide car bomber and five other attackers targeted the facility in a northwestern province.
The authorities blamed the Pakistani Taliban, which is separate from but allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban, but the group denied involvement in that attack on Monday evening.
The assault began when a bomber attempted to storm the cadet college in Wana, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border.
The area had, until recent years, served as a base for the Pakistani Taliban, al Qaeda and other foreign militants.
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According to local police chief Alamgir Mahsud, two of the militants were quickly killed by troops while three others managed to enter the compound before being cornered in an administrative block.
The army’s commandos were among the forces conducting a clearance operation, and an intermittent exchange of fire went on into Tuesday, Mr Mahsud said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif denounced both attacks and said those responsible must be brought to justice swiftly.
“We will ensure the perpetrators are apprehended and held accountable,” he said.
Mr Sharif described attacks on unarmed civilians as “reprehensible”, adding: “We will not allow the blood of innocent Pakistanis to go to waste.”
At least eight people have been killed and at least 19 others injured after a car exploded in New Delhi, say Indian police.
The blast, which triggered a fire that damaged several vehicles parked nearby, happened at the gates of the metro station at the Red Fort, a former Mughal palace and a busy tourist spot.
New Delhi’s international airport, metro stations and government buildings were put on a high security alert after the explosion, the government said. The cause of the explosion is being investigated.
The city’s police commissioner, Satish Golcha, said it happened a few minutes before 7pm.
“A slow-moving vehicle stopped at a red light. An explosion happened in that vehicle, and due to the explosion,
nearby vehicles were also damaged,” he told reporters.
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Local media said at least 11 people were injured and that Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh state had been put on high alert after the incident
Police officers and forensic technicians work at the site of the explosion. Pic: Reuters
The site of the explosion. Pic: Reuters
One resident, who did not give a name, told NDTV: “We heard a big sound, our windows shook.”
Sanjay Tyagi, a Delhi police spokesman, said they were still investigating the cause, while the fire service reported that at least six vehicles and three autorickshaws had caught fire.
Images show the burnt-out remnants of several cars and forensic officers at the scene.
The scene has now been sealed off. Pic: Reuters
Home minister Amit Shah told local media that a Hyundai i20 car exploded near a traffic signal close to the Red Fort. He said CCTV footage from cameras in the area will form part of the investigation.
“We are exploring all possibilities and will conduct a thorough investigation, taking all possibilities into account,” Shah said. “All options will be investigated immediately, and we will present the results to the public.”
The investigation is being conducted by the National Investigation Agency, India’s federal terror investigating agency, and other agencies.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences to those who have lost their loved ones in the blast.
He posted on X: “May the injured recover at the earliest. Those affected are being assisted by authorities.
“Reviewed the situation with Home Minister Amit Shah Ji and other officials.”
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It is a moment few could have imagined just a few years ago but the Syrian president, Ahmed al Sharaa, has arrived in Washington for a landmark series of meetings, which will culminate in a face-to-face with Donald Trump at the White House.
His journey to this point is a remarkable story, and it’s a tale of how one man went from being a jihadist battlefield commander to a statesman on the global stage – now being welcomed by the world’s most powerful nation.
Mr Sharaa became leader of Syria after the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime in December last year.
Before that he went by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al Jolani.
During Syria’s brutal civil war, he was the leader of the Nusra Front – a designated terror organisation, the Syrian branch of al Qaeda.
Back then, the thought of him setting foot on US soil and meeting a US president would have been unthinkable. There was a $10m reward for information leading to his capture.
Ahmed al Sharaa meeting Donald Trump in Riyadh in May. Pic: AP
So what is going on? Why is diplomacy being turned on its head?
After 14 years of conflict which started during the so-called Arab Spring, Syria is in a mess.
Mr Sharaa – as the head of the transitional government – is seen by the US as having the greatest chance of holding the country together and stopping it from falling back into civil war and failed state territory.
But to do that, Syria has to emerge from its pariah status and that’s what the US is gambling on and why it’s inclined to offer its support and a warm embrace.
Donald Trump, Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Ahmed al Sharaa in May. Pic: Saudi Press Agency
By endorsing Mr Sharaa, it is hoping he will shed his past and emerge as a leader for everyone and unite the country.
Holding him close also means it’s less likely that Iran and Russia will again be able to gain a strong strategic foothold in the country.
So, a man who was once an enemy of the US is now being feted as a potential ally.
Mr Sharaa meeting Vladimir Putin in Moscow in October. Pic: Reuters
There are big questions, though. He has rejected his extremist background, saying he did what he did because of the circumstances of the civil war.
But since he took power, there have been sectarian clashes. In July, fighting broke out between Druze armed groups and Bedouin tribal fighters in Sweida.
It was a sign of just how fragile the country remains and also raises concerns about his ability to be a leader for everyone.
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Can Syria’s new president be trusted?
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Nonetheless, Mr Sharaa is viewed as the best chance of stabilising Syria and by extension an important part of the Middle East.
Get Syria right, the logic goes, and the rest of the jigsaw will be easier to put and hold together.
The visit to Washington is highly significant and historic. It’s the first-ever official visit by a Syrian head of state since the country’s independence in 1946.
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Top shot: Syrian leader shows off his basketball skills
The meeting with Donald Trump is, though, the really big deal. The two men met in Riyadh in May but in the meeting later today they will discuss lifting sanctions – crucial to Syria’s post-war reconstruction – how Syria can help in the fight against Islamic State, and a possible pathway to normalisation of relations with Israel.
The optics will be fascinating as the US continues to engage with a former militant with jihadi links.
It’s a risk, but if successful, it could reshape Syria’s role in the region from US enemy to strong regional ally.
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