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.
World
Bodies of two more Israeli hostages handed over by Hamas – but uncertainty over missing remains
The bodies of two more Israeli hostages have been handed over to the Red Cross by Hamas – but uncertainty still hangs over the fate of the missing remains of others.
Under the ceasefire agreement, all remaining 48 hostages, dead and alive, were supposed to be returned by this Monday.
So far, only the 20 living hostages have been returned, as well as seven dead hostages, according to Israel’s count, with two further bodies still being verified.
Just hours after today’s handover, the Israeli military said a tenth body previously turned over was not that of a hostage – and the confusion added to tensions over the fragile truce that has paused the two-year war.
What has Hamas said?
Hamas has previously said recovering the remaining bodies could take time, as not all burial sites are known.
Its armed wing put out a statement on Wednesday, saying it has returned all the bodies it could reasonably recover, but would require special equipment to hand over the remaining ones.
Meanwhile, the Gaza Health Ministry said it received 45 more bodies of Palestinians from Israel, another step in the implementation of the ceasefire agreement.
Red Cross vehicles escort a truck transporting the bodies of Palestinian hostages. Pic: Reuters.
That brings to 90 the total number of bodies returned to Gaza for burial. The forensics team examining the remains claimed they showed signs of mistreatment.
Trump issues warning
The return of all the hostages is a key pillar of the deal agreed to by Israel and Hamas, heralded by US President Donald Trump as having brought “peace in the Middle East”.
Israel – which has freed around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees as part of the peace deal – had already threatened to keep the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt closed on Wednesday, and limit aid entering Gaza, due to Hamas not returning all of the dead.
And in an interview with CNN on Wednesday, Mr Trump warned that Israel could resume the war if he feels Hamas is not upholding its end of the agreement.
“Israel will return to those streets as soon as I say the word,” he said.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Trump: ‘If Hamas doesn’t disarm, we will disarm them’
From our experts:
Will Trump stay the course over Gaza?
Analysis: There is a catch to Trump’s Gaza peace deal
Since the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel in 2023 – in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage – the two sides have been at war.
Nearly 68,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel’s subsequent offensive, according to the Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government in Gaza.
The ministry maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts – though the ministry does not say how many of those killed are combatants.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Middle East correspondent Adam Parsons explains why tensions may begin to bubble
Similar incident in previous ceasefire
This is not the first time Hamas has returned a wrong body to Israel.
During a previous ceasefire, the group said it handed over the bodies of Shiri Bibas and her two sons, but testing in February 2025 showed that one of the bodies returned was identified as a Palestinian woman. Ms Bibas’ body was returned a day later.
Meanwhile, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Kassem accused Israel of violating the deal with shootings on Tuesday in eastern Gaza City and the southern city of Rafah.
👉Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim on your podcast app👈
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said the military is operating along the deployment lines troops withdrew to under the deal, and he warned that anyone approaching the lines will be targeted, as happened on Tuesday with several militants.
Aid trickling in
The World Food Programme said its trucks began arriving in Gaza after the entrance of humanitarian aid was paused for two days due to the exchange on Monday and a Jewish holiday on Tuesday.
The timing of the scaled-up deliveries – which are also part of the ceasefire deal – had been called into question after Israel said on Tuesday that it would cut the number of trucks allowed into Gaza, saying Hamas was too slow to return the hostages’ bodies.
Trucks carrying humanitarian aid and fuel enter Khan Yunis, a city in the southern Gaza Strip. Pic: AP
Abeer Etefa, spokesperson for the World Food Programme, lauded the trucks’ passage but said the situation remained unpredictable.
“We’re hopeful that access will improve in the coming days,” she said.
The Egyptian Red Crescent said 400 trucks carrying food, fuel and medical supplies were bound for Gaza on Wednesday.
Fifteen UK charities have launched a fresh appeal for donations to Gaza to address “catastrophic levels of need” in the devastated region.
The charities make up the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), which has been raising millions for Gaza – where tens of thousands have been killed over the past two years of war – and the wider Middle East.
After the initial stage of a much-sought ceasefire deal aimed at ending the conflict in Gaza was agreed on by Israel and Hamas, aid has begun to trickle into the devastated region again.
According to the DEC, its charities and local partners have been scaling up their work in the Gaza Strip since the agreement took effect last week.
Palestinians walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings in Gaza City. Pic: Reuters
It said lorries carrying food and other aid began to enter Gaza on Sunday, with the British Red Cross and Plan International UK among those confirming supplies had made it in.
After raising more than £50m since the Middle East Humanitarian Appeal was launched last October, the DEC is renewing calls for donations, saying £10 could provide blankets for two people, while £50 could provide emergency food for five families for one week.
Read more:
Trump warned plan for Gaza ‘doesn’t make sense’
Israel says no match for body handed over by Hamas
As goods are returning to Gaza’s markets, the DEC said, they are increasing cash assistance to help people buy essentials as they become more affordable.
They’re also distributing clean water, medicine, food, and nutrition support.
On its website, the DEC pointed to how famine was declared in Gaza City in August as it appealed for funds saying: “Your support can save lives.”
You can donate to the Middle East Humanitarian Appeal at dec.org.uk.
Donald Trump has refused to say if the CIA has the authority to assassinate Venezuela’s president, after approving covert operations in the country to tackle alleged drug trafficking.
The classified decision, first revealed by The New York Times, marks a significant escalation in efforts to pressure President Nicolas Maduro‘s regime.
Mr Trump said large amounts of drugs were entering the US from Venezuela, much of it trafficked by sea.
“We are looking at land now, because we’ve got the sea very well under control,” he said.
When asked why the coastguard wasn’t asked to intercept suspected drug trafficking boats, which has been a longstanding US practice, Mr Trump said the approach had been ineffective.
“I think Venezuela is feeling heat,” he said.
He declined to answer whether the CIA has the authority to execute Mr Maduro.
The US has offered a $50m (£37m) reward for information leading to his arrest, accusing him of connections to drug trafficking and criminal organisations – claims he denies.
President Nicolas Maduro. Pic: Reuters
Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday evening. Pic: Reuters
US targets ‘drug boats’
Mr Trump also alleged Venezuela had sent a significant number of prisoners, including individuals from mental health facilities, into the US, though he did not specify the border through which they reportedly entered.
On Tuesday, he announced America had targeted a small boat suspected of drug trafficking in waters off the Venezuelan coast, resulting in the deaths of six people.
According to the president’s post on social media, all those killed were aboard the vessel.
Read more from Sky News:
Pakistan agrees to ceasefire with Afghanistan after
Venezuela opposition leader wins Nobel Peace Prize
Footage of the strike was released by Donald Trump on social media. Pic: Truth Social
The incident marked the fifth such fatal strike in the Caribbean, as the Trump administration continues to classify suspected drug traffickers as unlawful combatants to be confronted with military force.
War secretary Pete Hegseth authorised the strike, according to Mr Trump, who released a video of the operation.
The black-and-white footage showed a small boat seemingly stationary on the water. It is struck by a projectile from above and explodes, then drifts while burning for several seconds.
Mr Trump said the “lethal kinetic strike” was in international waters and targeted a boat travelling along a well-known smuggling route.
There has also been a significant increase in US military presence in the southern Caribbean, with at least eight warships, a submarine, and F-35 jets stationed in Puerto Rico.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024