Bagram Air Base May Become New Gitmo

The White House is considering turning Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan into the new Guantanamo Bay by using the facility to house suspected international terrorists. The plan is already drawing heated criticism at a time when the US has promised to close Guantanamo. Commander Stanley McChrystal believes a US detention facility north of Kabul will make stabilizing Afghanistan even more difficult, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Consideration of the site as a terrorist prison reflects the Obama administration realization that there are few options to hold international suspects without turning them over to the US court system or foreign governments. "No one particularly likes any of the choices before us right now, but Bagram may be the least bad among them," said a senior Defense official. (More Afghanistan stories.)