Public Comment

The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, the graveyard of empires, is a tragic tale. Sadly, our politicians are not students of history and their actions invariably play to their domestic audience. Following the attack on 9/11, the U.S. military and the C.I.A followed the playbook of previous wars and used overwhelming force to catch and kill their illusive enemy, Osama Bin Laden and his followers. America even pressured our NATO allies to join the fight. Twenty years later the new Biden administration understands there is no easy path forward. The Taliban are convinced they have the upper hand. If America withdraws its forces it will be yet another humiliating defeat for the “great Satan” and red meat for the Republicans. If U.S. forces stay, more Americans and Afghans will surely die. 

One unfortunate detainee who got caught up during the initial US military dragnet, was a young Muslim, called Slahi. He and other detainees were sold to the U.S. for bounties by other Muslims wishing to settle scores or augment their salaries. Slahi was kidnapped from Karachi in 2002 and sold to the C.I.A with a false story that he was a terrorist called Hassan Ghul. Earlier, he travelled to Germany on an Engineering scholarship from his native Mauritania but like many other young Muslims he responded to the call for Jihad to fight the Soviet forces in Afghanistan.Shortly before his arrest he was ecstatic to learn his wife had given birth to a baby boy. 

The first eight years of Slahi’s imprisonment included multiple forms of brutal torture in four different countries. He had been locked up for the entire duration of his son’s childhood without charges or a trial. Throughout his long ordeal he was told his wife was in the next room and would be raped if he did not talk. In 2009,Barack Obama promised on his second day in office to close “Gitmo” for good. He failed. The Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture was completed in 2014. It’s a report that Slahi features in. It confirms he was tortured for 540 days in the ‘Dark Prison’ in Afghanistan “without authorization”. Slahi recalls the days and nights blended into one while he was hung from a bar in a black pit, in agony as his shoulders dislocated. The U.S. military and the C.I.A never apologized and were well aware they had captured an innocent man. 

Slahi documented his days in captivity in what would later be called the “Guantanamo Diaries” which was widely published throughout the world. His experience and eventual release are featured in the film “the Mauritian”. The U.S. is currently paying $13.8 million a year just to keep detainees at Guantanamo, an obscene amount of money to hide the horrors of America’s war crimes. The C.I.A. even captured the real Hassan Ghul, but after interrogating him they let him go rather than admit Slahi’s arrest was a victim of mistaken identity. None of the torturers have been punished or fired for their brutal Gestapo tactics. American ever apologizes for its appalling mistakes. Former President GW Bush and VP Cheney, who gave the order for “enhanced interrogation” are guilty of war crimes.  

Nancy Hollander, was Slahi’s lawyer who worked for years, without pay to secure his eventual release. He is now reunited with his family in his native Mauritania. Incredibly, Slahi harbors no resentment towards his torturers. One of his guards who bonded with Slahi flew to Mauritania to see him.