- Kako Kandahari
Infobox WoT detainees
subject_name = Kako Kandahari
image_size =
image_caption =
date_of_birth = Birth year and age|1970
place_of_birth =Ghulayie ,Afghanistan
date_of_death =
place_of_death =
detained_at = Guantanamo
id_number = 986
group =
alias =
charge = no charge, held inextrajudicial detention
penalty =
status = Determined not to have been an enemy combatant after all
occupation =
spouse =
parents =
children =Kako Kandahari is a citizen of
Afghanistan , held inextrajudicial detention in theUnited States Guantanamo Bay detention camp s, inCuba .cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf
title=List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
date=May 15 2006
accessdate=2007-09-29] His GuantanamoInternee Security Number is 986.Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts estimate that Kako was born in 1970 inGhulayie , Afghanistan.Combatant Status Review Tribunal
] Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.cite web
url=http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=3902
title=Annual Administrative Review Boards for Enemy Combatants Held at Guantanamo Attributable to Senior Defense Officials
publisher=United States Department of Defense
date=March 6 2007
accessdate=2007-09-22] ]Initially the Bush administration asserted that they could withhold all the protections of the
Geneva Conventions to captives fromthe war on terror . This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct acompetent tribunal s to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections ofprisoner of war status.Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted the
Combatant Status Review Tribunal s. The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were "lawful combatants" -- rather they were merely empowered to make a recommendation as to whether the captive had previously been correctly determined to match the Bush administration's definition of anenemy combatant .ummary of Evidence memo
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Kako Kandahari'sCombatant Status Review Tribunal, on
9 December 2004 .cite web
url=http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/000700-000783.pdf#7
title=Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Kandahari, Kako
date=9 December 2004
pages=page 7
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-01-19] The memo listed the following allegations against him::"'A. The detainee is associated with forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States of its coalition partners.
:#The detainee admitted that he is familiar with trails around the area of
Mar Naiza , which is nearTora Bora .:#This is the area whereTaliban andal Qaida forces were attempting to escape after the American heavy bombing began.:#The detainee was arrested during a joint Afghan/United States raid on his police station.:#Explosives were found in the police station during the raid.:#There was also the equivalent of two truckloads ofZikoyak andDSHK ammunition in the compound.Transcript
Kako Kandahari chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.cite web
url=http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_51_3490-3642_Revised.pdf#62
title=Summarized Statement
date=date redacted
pages=pages 62-73
author=OARDEC
publisher=United States Department of Defense
accessdate=2008-02-01] The Department of Defense released a 12 page summarized transcript from his Tribunal, onMarch 3 2006 .Testimony
Kako told his Tribunal that he was familiar with the trails around Mar Naiza because he had fought against the Taliban in that area. Kako said he was part of the anti-Taliban forces from which the Taliban was retreating.
Kako described how he was the one who accompanied the Americans when they searched the station.He said he and offered the Americans food and drink when their search was over. The declined and asked him to come with them to Jalalabad. Kako told his Tribunal that as a government official he said he was willing to go anywhere his allies wanted him to go. But he didn't expect to be thrown into prison.
Kako said that the allegations were confused about the weapons and explosives. His police station had a small armory, which only contained light weapons. The “district manager”, who was not under their jurisdiction, had a larger armory, in his compound. And he believed that the weapons described in the allegations against him must have been in the district manager’s armory.
In answer to questioning by his Tribunal’s officers:
*Kako explained that he was a member of theHashanakhil tribe, part of the Kochi minority ethnic group - nomadic shepherds, with no fixed address.
*The police officers were armed with Kalashnikov rifles.
*Kako said he was illiterate, and had never had any military training.
*When he fought against the Taliban, he was not fighting as a member of the Northern Alliance. He was fighting under a regional leader he calledHaji Ghalib .
*Kako confirmed for the Tribunal that the Americans searched the district managers compound:
*Kako confirmed that he was not under arrest when they searched the district manager’s compound. He was only arrested afterwards.
*When he was asked when he was arrested, Kako didn’t know exactly. He estimated about two years prior to his Tribunal (ie approximately one year following the fall of the Taliban.).Testimonial letter
Kako’s personal representative presented a testimonial letter on his behalf. Kako described the author as someone close to Karzai, and seemed to think it would show he retained the trust and confidence of the Karzai government.
The author of the letter is not identified in the transcript, nor are any of its contents read aloud.
Kako’s questions
Kako explained to his Tribunal that the Arabs on his cell block hated him because he worked for the Karzai government. He asked to be transferred to a different cell block. He also asked if he could take advantage of the school lessons he heard some detainees were receiving. He said he would like to learn to read and write.
Haji Ghalib's testimony
Kako called on his boss,
Haji Ghalib the chief of his police station to testify on his behalf. Kako confirmed earlier, for the Tribunal’s President, that he had testified at Ghalib’s Tribunal.James Crisfield , the Tribunal’s senior legal advisor, had admonished on Tribunal for being unwilling to listen to hearsay evidence and uncorroborated testimony that refuted the allegations against detainees because most of the evidence of their involvement with al Qaeda or the Taliban was hearsay evidence or uncorroborated testimony.Ghalib confirmed that Kako had fought, with him, against al Qaeda and the Taliban; and after the fall of the Taliban, when he was made the local chief of police, he hired Kako to serve as one of his staff. He told his Tribunal that his notebook was in the Guantanamo evidence locker. His notebook contained the phone number of his American contact. He appealed to the Tribunal to phone his contact for a testimonial. He said that “the son of the late Haji
al Kadim ” would provide a testimonial as well.Ghalib assured the Tribunal that both he and Kako supported the Karzai government and the American intervention.
Ghalib assured the Tribunal that all the weapons in the Police Station were authorized, and that the serial numbers were on record with both the Governor and the Chief Police officer for the Province. When it is necessary for an officer to be issued with a weapon he would unlock the armory, and the officer would have to sign for the weapon and return it when his task was finished.
Ghalib said that the
District Manager , a man named Jabbar, had more weapons than he was authorized to have.Ghalib confirmed that the allegation that the Police Station contained explosives was a mistake.
Ghalib told the Tribunal that he was upset that he and Kako were only learning the allegations against them two years after their capture. He informed the Tribunal that this kind of capture, without charge, is not legal in Afghanistan and asked if it was legal in America.
Ghalib assured the Tribunal that neither he or Kako knew how to make bombs.
Ghalib said that he had fought against the Russians before he fought against the Taliban. He said he had fought with the Americans, in Iraq, during the first
Gulf War as part of a group called theMahazamili , lead bySaid Ghalani .Haji
Abdul Khadid , the former governor of Jalalabad, had appointed him the police chief as a reward for his efforts in fighting the Taliban.Ghalib was in Jalalabad when the Americans came to his station. He believed that the Americans arrested two more of his men. But, in answer to a question from the Tribunal’s President, he said he did not believe they arrested the district manager.
Other detainees captured guarding armories
Guantanamo contains a number of detainees who were captured and detained for guarding armoriesthat they described, at their Tribunals, as official armories, authorized by, paid for, and responsible to the
Hamid Karzai government.Determined not to have been an Enemy Combatant
Kako Kandahari was one of 38 detainees who was determined not to have been an enemy combatant during his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.cite news
url=http://media.miamiherald.com/smedia/2008/03/27/20/NLEC_DetaineeList.source.prod_affiliate.56.pdf
title=Detainees Found to No Longer Meet the Definition of "Enemy Combatant" during Combatant Status Review Tribunals Held at Guantanamo
publisher=United States Department of Defense
author=
date=November 19 ,2007
accessdate=2008-04-15
quote=] The Department of Defense refers to these men asNo Longer Enemy Combatants .The date of his release is unknown.
References
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