Haji Ghalib: from Anti-Taliban combat to Guantanamo

US Prison for Afghanistan is a new film by RT Documentary which tells the story of Haji Ghalib, an Afghan ex-chief of police, who spent 5 years in American prisons under false terrorism allegations, underwent humiliation and torture, lost most of his family, but never gave up the fight for his country’s future.

Haji Ghalib’s life has been a fight for the past forty years: he fought the Soviets, the Taliban, the ISIL. When the US declared the war on terror in 2001, Haji Ghalib was serving as a chief of police. In 2003, the US military arrested him right at his workplace and charged him with ties with Al-Qaeda and Taliban. Before taking the detainee to Bagram prison, the Americans tortured him by tying him to a bed so his head would hang over a bucket of water, and then submerging his head for 15-20 minutes. 

Sometime later, Haji Ghalib was sent from Bagram to Guantánamo. He spent four years imprisoned there. “When they were bringing food, there was a red line. They gave us food like this, on their extended arms. If you stepped on the red line, or worse, if you stepped beyond it, they came into your cell and beat you half to death”, recalls Haji Ghalib. “They didn’t let us sleep. It’s a torture, as well, when they humiliate you, strip you naked, and you stand before other people with your clothes off. What could be worse than that?”

After being acquitted, Haji Ghalib returned to Afghanistan and rose to arms against the Taliban and ISIL again. He is now targeted by the Taliban, who have already killed all the female members of his family. Yet Haji Ghalib is not planning to give up his fight. What other hardships will he go through?