Secret Afghan Prisons Revealed

Secret Afghan Prisons Revealed

Anand Gopal details the inhumane treatment of prisoners caught in secret Afghan prisons on US military bases.

Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

Nation contributor Anand Gopal appears on Democracy Now
with Amy Goodman to discuss his story “America’s Secret Afghan Prisons” featured in the Feb. 15 edition of The Nation.

Under both the Bush administration and the Obama administration, these
secret Afghan prisons continue to exist, as a major UN report concludes
these secret detention practices “could reach the threshold of a crime
against humanity.” The prisons have been used as holding centers for
people to be taken to and interrogated. In his story, Gopal cites the
Black Jail, which is ran by US special forces, and at least nine secret
prisons where people have been tortured or killed–some while in prison and others during night raids.

“The night raids are the most unpopular actions of coalition forces,
more so than air strikes that kill civilians,” he says. “They’re seen as
a major affront to local culture, to the extent where people are
actually scared in many places to actually go to sleep at night, because
they don’t know who will burst through the door at night and take away
their loved ones.”

Many Afghans have already began demonstrations as the night raids and
kidnappings persist. Still, the US military fails to discuss the
prisons, as they there are cloaked in a “shroud of secrecy.”

Clarissa León

Check out more great Nation videos on our YouTube channel.

Be part of 160 years of confronting power 


Every day,
The Nation exposes the administration’s unchecked and reckless abuses of power through clear-eyed, uncompromising independent journalism—the kind of journalism that holds the powerful to account and helps build alternatives to the world we live in now. 

We have just the right people to confront this moment. Speaking on Democracy Now!, Nation DC Bureau chief Chris Lehmann translated the complex terms of the budget bill into the plain truth, describing it as “the single largest upward redistribution of wealth effectuated by any piece of legislation in our history.” In the pages of the June print issue and on The Nation Podcast, Jacob Silverman dove deep into how crypto has captured American campaign finance, revealing that it was the top donor in the 2024 elections as an industry and won nearly every race it supported.

This is all in addition to The Nation’s exceptional coverage of matters of war and peace, the courts, reproductive justice, climate, immigration, healthcare, and much more.

Our 160-year history of sounding the alarm on presidential overreach and the persecution of dissent has prepared us for this moment. 2025 marks a new chapter in this history, and we need you to be part of it.

We’re aiming to raise $20,000 during our June Fundraising Campaign to fund our change-making reporting and analysis. Stand for bold, independent journalism and donate to support The Nation today.

Onward, 

Katrina vanden Heuvel 
Publisher, The Nation

Ad Policy
x