Jailbreak Afghanistan

Photo: Sarposa Prison

This is the best story I could find on what happened in Kandahar today:

Canadian forces and other NATO troops have been deployed to Kandahar after the main prison in the southern Afghan city was attacked by militants, who set most of the prisoners free.

Maj. Jay Janzen, a spokesman for the Canadian Forces, said troops were on the scene and had established a security perimeter in the vicinity.

"We believe the situation is under control,” Janzen said, without elaborating.

Around 10 p.m., Taliban insurgents drove a car filled with explosives up to Sarposa prison's main gate and detonated it, destroying the gate and surrounding shops and killing 10 police officers in the vicinity.

Afghan officials also said Taliban insurgents fired several rockets at parts of the prison.

A Taliban spokesman said 30 insurgents on motorbikes and two suicide bombers attacked the prison. Qari Yousef Ahmadi also claimed that hundreds of Taliban prisoners were freed in the assault.

There were reports that 150 to 200 prisoners were still in the prison, with the rest having escaped.

But Wali Karzai, president of Kandahar's provincial council and the brother of President Hamid Karzai, said "all the prisoners escaped. There is no one left."

About 1,170 inmates were believed to have been in the prison and may now be roaming the streets of Kandahar city, Hunter said.

Canadian Forces are in command of Kandahar, and most of the roughly 2,500 Canadian troops in Afghanistan are stationed there.

The prison, the largest detention facility in Kandahar province, housed both common criminals and captured Taliban militants who had been fighting NATO troops and the Afghan government.

"It's a big blow. It's a very significant development," said CBC's Susan Ormiston, who visited the prison last April.

Suspected Taliban members detained by Canadian soldiers and turned over to Afghanistan officials are sent to the prison, located in the outskirts of the city.

Canada has spent $1 million on improvements to the facility, including new cell blocks and new windows.

Ormiston said Canadian officials were hoping the prison would become a model for other prisons in the region.

Sarposa Prison was in the news last year when allegations of detainee abuse and torture came out in the Canadian media:

As the Canadian government defends its policy of handing over Afghan detainees to local authorities, one former detainee has told CTV News about his alleged abuse by police.

Noor Mohammed Noori claims that eight Afghan police officers pinned him down with iron bars across his arms and legs, and beat him unconscious.

"They beat me that night four times, and the last time I couldn't walk," he said through an interpreter.

But Noori, who still walks with a slight limp, said he does not blame Canadian soldiers for giving him to police, because they were only following rules.

"They had only one option and I know it's not the fault of the Canadians that I was beaten by police, because they were not aware," he explained.

This is a pretty serious development in the state of affairs in Afghanistan. What impact, if any, this will have on the morale of the Taliban, whether this will lead to more brazen attacks, whether this means the war is beginning to enter a new phase--that's up in the air right now.

One this is pretty clear--there aren't enough troops in Afghanistan to deal with a full-scale offensive of any kind.

[and, yes, the point has been made--we can't win in Afghanistan, we never should have gone there, we're going to lose like the Soviets lost, etc...]

Before You Make That Trip Across the Border...

We heard from a friend of ours, trex, and he had this to say in the wake of The Department of Homeland Security's decision to postpone the requirement for people to have a passport when returning from Canada:

I just read the news roundup piece on DHS pushing back the deadline for needing passports to travel between North American countries and found it amusing and ironic. As far back as a year ago we've had American border guards yell at us (yes, yell) and antagonize us for not having passports when returning from Canada. Apparently showing our birth certificates, MI drivers licenses, vehicle registration cards and voter registration cards are insufficient to distinguish us from terrorists.

Not to mention the fact that passports are not yet required for land border crossings.

Michigan has four Canadian border crossings: The Ambassador Bridge (busiest in the U.S.), the Detroit tunnel, the Blue Water bridge in Port Huron and the International Bridge in the UP. I've used three of the four at least once in the past year and a half and found the experiences to range from disquieting to hellish - hellish being stopped in the middle of the International Bridge for 45 minutes during high winds with logging trucks rumbling across because Customs is physically searching every single vehicle entering the U.S.

And the nasty guard didn't help either.

A trip across the border typically starts with a pleasant exchange with a Canadian Customs agent smiling and asking your citizenship, few questions, then bidding you a good day. There is usually a none to ten minute wait outside of rush hours. A typical return trip means at least twenty minutes and often forty waiting on a bridge, only to encounter a stony faced agent who questions you repeatedly and brusquely, may ask for a passport that's not yet required, may search your vehicle, and acts exasperated at finally having to let you through.

And that's if you're a U.S. citizen! And in this case I was clearly a resident of the state I was entering.

If you live in the Detroit area you know of stories where U.S. Customs has really messed with people, keeping them for hours and grilling them, ransacking their vehicle. I know of someone who had all the seats unbolted and removed from their car so it could be searched. When they were done Customs told them it was their responsibility to re-install them.

As a kid going to Canada and back was fun. The guards were pleasant and there was a feeling of reaffirming the special nature of America by leaving it and coming back. Now there is a sense of dread when returning, a feeling of being guilty until proven innocent where one wrong look will land you in trouble. Just one more good thing about being American the Bush administration has fucked up.