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Biden’s decision on Afghanistan raises Guantanamo questions

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US President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan is raising questions about what, if any, effect that will have on the future of the Guantanamo Bay detention center.

According to The Hill, at least two prisoners who have been challenging their detention have already updated their complaints to include Biden’s withdrawal as a reason they should be released.

But according to some experts while the war on terrorism will continue even after the last U.S. service member leaves Afghanistan, the legal justification for indefinite detention at Guantanamo does not appear to be going anywhere anytime soon, The Hill reported.

“I think the short answer is that we just don’t know,” Steve Vladeck, a University of Texas law professor, said of the withdrawal’s effect on Guantanamo.

“It clearly provides the remaining Guantanamo detainees with a new ground on which to challenge the legal basis for their continuing military detention, and one that is not necessarily foreclosed by existing precedent,” he added in an email.

“But it’s not at all clear that courts will be sympathetic to those arguments, not just because they haven’t been to date, but because the Executive Branch is likely to argue that the conflict with al-Qaeda isn’t ending just because we’re leaving Afghanistan.”

Forty men remain detained at the facility opened by former President George W. Bush after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Six have been cleared for transfer, and seven have been charged in the military commission system, including the five 9/11 suspects.

According to The Hill, the Biden administration is in the midst of reviewing the facility with the intention of closing it, but it remains to be seen whether that effort will be successful.

Amid the administration’s review, Biden is facing pressure to fulfill his promise to close the facility and 24 Senate Democrats penned a letter to Biden last week saying he could close the facility with “sufficient political will and swift action.”

“After years of indefinite detention without charge or trial; a history of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment; and multiple attempts at a thoroughly failed and discredited military commission process, it is past time to close Guantanamo’s detention facility and end indefinite detention,” read the letter, which was organized by Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy.

When Biden announced earlier this month he was ordering a full withdrawal from Afghanistan by September 11, he declared, “It’s time to end the forever war.”

But Alli McCracken Jarrar, North American campaigner for Amnesty International, told The Hill that if Biden is serious about ending the “forever war,” he will close Guantanamo.

“I hope that he can align his timeline to withdraw from Afghanistan with his plan to close Guantanamo,” she said. “It would be wonderful to see the whole detention camp shut down and the men transferred out by September 11. And I think that would make a lot of groups feel happy and would really be a positive sign that he’s committed to his human rights obligations.”

The Hill reported that last week, lawyers for two Guantanamo detainees filed motions for the release of their clients, citing the withdrawal.

One of the two detainees is Asadullah Haroon Gul, an approximately 40-year-old Afghan captured by Afghan forces in 2007. His lawyers argued in a motion seeking their client’s immediate release that the withdrawal takes away any basis to continue holding him.

“The law is clear: Asadullah gets to go home now, regardless of whether, as the government incorrectly contends, he was part of or substantially supported al- Qaeda,” his lawyers wrote in the motion.

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Afghan justice minister to attend 13th St. Petersburg International Legal Forum

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Acting Justice Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), Abdul Hakim Sharei, left for Russia on Saturday to participate in the 13th St. Petersburg International Legal Forum.

The three-day conference will kick off on coming Monday and will be attended by ministers of justice, judicial officials and legal experts from various countries.

Acting Minister of Justice of the Islamic Emirate will deliver a speech on the nature of laws, the need for reforms in international law, ensuring justice and the role of the Islamic Emirate in international relations, the Ministry of Justice said in a statement.

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Acting FM Muttaqi departs for Iran to attend Tehran Dialogue Forum

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Acting Foreign Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) Amir Khan Muttaqi on Saturday left Kabul for Iran to attend Tehran Dialogue Forum.

Hafiz Zia Ahmad, deputy spokesman for the foreign ministry, said that the delegation accompanying Muttaqi also includes Abdul Latif Nazari, deputy minister of economy.

In addition to participating in the Tehran Dialogue Forum, Muttaqi is scheduled to meet with his Iranian counterpart and other high-ranking officials to discuss bilateral relations.

Tehran Dialogue Forum will be held on May 17-19.

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Kazakhstan expresses concern over construction of Qosh Tepa canal in Afghanistan

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Kazakhstan’s Deputy Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation, Aslan Abdraimov, has warned that the Qosh Tepa canal in Afghanistan could significantly reduce the flow of the Syr Darya River, with direct consequences for the already depleted Aral Sea.

He made the remarks at the recent international conference, Water Security and Transboundary Water Use: Challenges and Solutions, held in Astana.

“No sharp fluctuations in water resources are expected in the near term, but in the long term, a reduction in the Syr Darya’s flow is inevitable,” Abdraimov stated. He emphasized that this would further strain the fragile water balance in the Aral Sea basin.

Azamatkhan Amirtayev, chairman of Kazakhstan’s Baytak Party, expressed concern that the Qosh Tepa canal could divert 25-30% of the Amu Darya’s flow. “This means that Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan will receive less water. Consequently, Uzbekistan may draw more from the Syr Darya, leading to reduced water availability for Kazakhstan, potentially by 30-40%,” Amirtayev said. He urged for regional cooperation and scientifically informed policymaking to mitigate water losses.

The Qosh Tepa canal is a canal being built in northern Afghanistan to divert water from the Amu Darya River. The main canal is expected to be 285 km long and the overall initiative seeks to convert 550,000 hectares of desert into farmland.

Earlier, Uzbek authorities had also expressed concern about the construction of the Qosh Tepe canal in Afghanistan.

However, the Islamic Emirate has assured Uzbekistan that it will not be harmed by the canal.

 

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