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To get to the detention centre we were met by a plainclothes escort at the governor's guesthouse and driven to an unmarked prison just a few blocks away.
Although there is a series of road barricades to negotiate before the main vehicle gate, the detention centre is surprisingly void of heavy security. There are no guard towers or bunkers, just a walled compound topped with razor wire, not unlike any other government building in Afghanistan.
While discreet in appearance, the detention centre's location is certainly no secret. The families of suspected Taliban detainees are allowed to visit prisoners and bring them food once a week and a number of these visitors were at the compound when we arrived.
Centre officials said they can hold suspects for 72 hours. If they believe a case warrants further investigation, the suspect can remain at the facility for 15 days. Any incarceration beyond that point requires a court-ordered extension.
"If we (directorate) have made the arrest, the processing procedure is usually quite quick as we make sure we have sufficient evidence prior to apprehending them," said Karzai.
"The delays occur when we receive prisoners from other agencies such as NATO troops, and we have to begin an investigation with very little information."
The tour began in the basement cells where eight shackled men sat or reclined on their dirty bedding. This was the "general population" area and while it was evident the facility had been recently cleaned, there was no lingering odour of human excrement or filth, which would have been difficult to mask for the benefit of our tour. Some prisoners seemed amused at the intrusion while others stared blankly at us as we filmed them.
On the other side of the basement were the solitary cells. Narrow enough for each occupant to barely lie down on his grubby mat, all inmates in this section were shackled at the feet and kept behind locked doors.
All the doors were opened for us to inspect conditions and examine the state of the prisoners.
In all cells the prisoner had reading material - usually a copy of the Koran - water bottles and a few personal items.
While some of the solitary cells were kept darkened, we were allowed to light these in order to view them and photograph them.
Nowhere in the entire complex was there any sign of the cages in which detainees were allegedly confined.
Following the prisoner inspection we were shown the guards' quarters on the second floor. Here the security force lives eight to a room, sleeping in bunks lined with bedding equally filthy to that of the prisoners.
The interrogation room was a spartan office with a couple of desks, like any police station interview room, only with more battered furniture.
While the security directorate denied they beat or tortured suspects to extract confessions and intelligence, they did not divulge what they did to coerce prisoners.
The prisoner in the interrogation room during our visit was a suspect in a kidnapping.
As the night watchman at a school where the kidnap victim was held, the prisoner was believed to be implicated in the crime. Through an interpreter he told us his family was aware of his situation and had visited him in the prison.
Not evident were any of the alleged ceiling chains from which prisoners claim to have been suspended during interrogations.
In fact, the cracked plaster ceiling looked barely capable of supporting the weight of the flimsy light fixture, never mind the weight of a man.
Every office, cupboard and toilet facility was opened for our inspection, including a visit to the roof and the dining facility.
Huge chunks of a freshly slaughtered sheep were being boiled in an immense cauldron over an open fire.
"The prisoners receive the same food as the guards and prison staff," said Karzai.
"They receive bread and tea for breakfast, meat and rice for lunch and dinner."
The yogurt for prisoner consumption was heavily watered down in a large pot. Admittedly, the food appeared to be unappetizingly thin fare, but the prisoners' family and friends supplement the daily ration.
At the conclusion of the tour Karzai again pointed out the importance of maintaining good relations with Canadians.
He said he would also be willing to negotiate a new arrangement wherebythe Canadian military could routinely access the facility to monitor the prisoners they hand over.
"The detention centre is not a nice place to be," said a senior security directorate official.
"It's not supposed to be. But we do not do those things which (Canadian) media have accused us of having done."
http://www.espritdecorps.ca/Visit to Kandahar prison/Visit to Kandahar prison.htm
