The return of Bagram
Bagram air base is back under Kabul’s control after 20 years. The military base has headquartered the US military since it took control of Afghanistan in 2001. The runway was built in 1950s and was in use when in 1959, president Eisenhower was welcomed by King Zahir Shah and prime minister Sardar Dawood Khan there. It later became an important base for Soviet forces during their occupation.
During the US occupation of Afghanistan, the US military kept thousands of soldiers at the facility, about an hour’s drive from Kabul. The strip was vital for the US air force. Thousands of sorties were flown from this base to bomb, kill and destroy the ragtag Taliban and their installations. At the peak of the US military presence, the base hosted nearly 100,000 US soldiers in addition to thousands of NATO soldiers. There was a formidable array of all sorts of weapons and the most sophisticated reconnaissance aircrafts.
But Bagram gained notoriety because of the most shameful methods of torturing victims. Thousands of Afghans and foreigners were captured and subjected to the most inhumane torture techniques.
Suspected supporters of the Taliban were detained by thousands indiscriminately. All foreign nationals who had arrived in the country either to help the new Taliban government in fighting against their opponents or with resources for undertaking welfare projects were also detained. There was a wave of arrests no holds barred. And without any shred of evidence of their involvement, these detainees were forced to confess to crimes. Detainees were tortured by being kept awake for up to four days and nights. They were given electric shocks as US soldiers looked on. They were hung upside down for hours and denied toilet facilities. And hundreds were subjected to water boarding — one of the most painful techniques of inflicting unbearable pain on victims. They were undressed and kept hungry and thirsty for days. Some were even sodomised. Their screams at night due to the torture could be heard in the vast prison facility. The victims included religious scholars, political supporters and personalities like Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan Mullah Zaeef. These victims were then flown to the Guantanamo Bay for the same treatment.
One of the most shocking incidents of inflicting pain on a helpless, innocent victim was the torture on Dr Afia Siddiqi. In a disgraceful move, then Pakistan’s military ruler handed over Dr Afia to US forces. At Bagram, her screams could be heard by people around her torture cell as US soldiers would subject her to sexual abuse. It will be difficult to find any parallel in Islamic history when a ruler would hand over a woman to invaders for her to be sexually molested.
The horrible acts of torture practised in Bagram and subsequently in Guantanamo Bay would shame humanity. Tragically, none of these detainees were put on trial for the crimes they had allegedly committed. This was punishment without any trial in full view of the whole world perpetrated by “guardians of democracy and pluralism”.
Many detainees died in captivity. Many were released because they were declared innocent only after enduring the savagery of torture inflicted by a superpower.
Sadly no one would ever be put on trial for such abuse of power, for the atrocities committed on innocent people. The world would watch and endure the devastating experience of seeing prisoners being tortured without accountability.
Bagram has changed hands. But the sordid torture party has left an indelible imprint on humanity. It is a piece of land where all principles of justice, humanity and human dignity and character were trampled upon, ignored and ridiculed. It is a land that saw acts of barbarism in the 21st century which even the cruelest of ancient marauders would not have committed.
Bagram’s history of torture and humiliation of people held without charge would remain enshrined in memory. Hopefully, someone would pick the courage to document the crimes that were committed by the so-called promoters of democracy and justice.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 7th, 2021.
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