BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan — The U.S. officially handed over Parwan prison and all of its inmates to Afghan control at a ceremony that capped a process that has taken months and included pointed recriminations from Afghan President Hamid Karzai against the U.S.

But the continuing presence of U.S. military guards at the prison indicated that significant work remained to be done in training the Afghans to assume full control of their own security. Parwan was the last detention facility left under U.S. control in Afghanistan.

Afghan and U.S. officials who spoke at the ceremony struck a conciliatory note.

The handover “represents another milestone in our maturing relationship,” said Gen. Joseph Dunford, commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry paid a surprise visit to Kabul on Monday but was not at the ceremony for the handover.

Though the prison is to be under full Afghan control, and Afghan soldiers manned the base gate Monday, security on the inner-perimeter was still a strictly U.S. affair, with American soldiers checking bags, conducting retina scans and, in one case, ordering a visiting Afghan journalist to delete video they deemed to be of a sensitive area. The prison’s Afghan commander said all remaining prisoners in U.S. custody will be transferred to Afghan control next week.

A coalition official said there will continue to be a U.S. security presence at the gate because it leads to an area unrelated to the prison that still houses U.S. personnel.

Though Afghan authorities long-ago assumed responsibility for most detainees, delays in handing over full control of the country’s best-known prison to the Afghan government deepened the growing acrimony between Washington and Kabul, with Karzai complaining bitterly about the continued U.S. presence at the prison. During Chuck Hagel’s first visit as secretary of defense earlier this month, Karzai snubbed him by abruptly canceling a planned handover ceremony because of a disagreement over the details of the agreement.

Two main issues have held up full transfer of the prison: American concern that certain high-value detainees could be released and worries over the torture and abuses that human rights groups say are widespread in Afghan prisons. A January report from the United Nations sharply criticized the Afghan government for failing to curb such abuses.

Afghan prisoners interviewed for this article who had been held at Bagram under American supervision reported much better treatment by U.S. forces than by their Afghan counterparts. Qari Majid, who spent six months in the Afghan-run Kandahar jail and then 11 months at Parwan prison under American supervision, said torture was routine in Afghan prisons and that his American captors treated prisoners well. He said he feared prisoners will face harsher conditions now that Parwan Prison is changing hands.

“They will be tortured, pay bribes for their cases to be resolved, pay bribes for their release,” Majid said. “Their problems will increase.”

However, Afghan officials speaking at the ceremony, which ended with 26 prisoners being released, put heavy emphasis on preventing human rights abuses at the facility, which will be renamed The Afghan National Detention Facility at Parwan.

“The Ministry of Defense is committed to respect international laws and regulations and to protect the detainees and their human rights,” Minister of Defense Bismillah Khan Mohammadi said.

druzin.heath@stripes.com Twitter: @Druzin_Stripes

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