Red Cross Video Link Lets Afghan Detainees Chat With Families
January 14, 2008 8:04 a.m. EST
Preciosa Dumlao - AHN News Writer

Kabul, Afghanistan (AHN) - The International Red Cross announced on Monday that for the first time, men detained by the United States military in Afghanistan on suspicion of links to terrorism, have been able to get in touch with their families via video link.

The organization said that about 60 detainees were able to speak to their families via videoconferencing. The video link allowed the detainees at the largest U.S. base at Bagram, Afghanistan to talk and see their families.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) worked for years to urge U.S. officials to allow family members to visit their detained relatives at the Bagram base and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"The system is the first of its kind," ICRC delegation head in Afghanistan, Reto Stocker, said in a press release.

"It was set up basically to reassure detainees and their families by allowing them to see and speak to one another," he said.