U.S. shuts down last detention center in Afghanistan

The U.S. military's final detention center in Afghanistan at Bagram Air Base is now closed, with the two remaining prisoners turned over to Afghan authorities.

The Pentagon told NBC News it "no longer operates detention facilities in Afghanistan nor maintains custody of any detainees." The deadline for the handoff was Jan. 1, and a State Department spokesperson said that the early transfer was "not linked to the release of the Senate committee report on detention and interrogation."

The two final prisoners, Redha al-Najar and Lutfi al-Arbai al-Gharisi, were both mentioned in the report as having been in CIA custody starting in 2002. Al-Najar was suspected of being a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, and his attorney, Tina Foster, said he was moved around to different sites "to avoid scrutiny by U.S. courts." The report mentions that al-Najar was held by the CIA for nearly 700 days, and Foster says during that time he was isolated in total darkness, forced to listen to loud music, placed in shackles and a hood, and sleep deprived.

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