Long wait for Bagram detainees

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Hamidullah Khan left his home in Karachi and went on an errand to the family village on the Afghan border four years ago.

The 14-year-old called from the bus stop to say he was on his way home and then disappeared.

Through the Red Cross Hamidullah's family learned he was in a U.S. military prison in Bagram, Afghanistan. They sometimes talk by phone now, but the conversation is limited.

SOUNDBITE: FATHER OF HAMIDULLAH KHAN, WAKEEL KHAN SAYING (Urdu):

"The phone calls get disconnected whenever I ask about his well-being in Bagram."

A Pakistan government memo says he was taken into custody for "attacks on coalition forces". His family doesn't know when he will be released.

According to a U.N. report, more than 2,500 juveniles have been detained in Afghanistan, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay by the United States since 2001.

Pakistan says there are three still in Bagram, the U.S. says there is only one. Some have grown into adults behind prison walls.

The foreign detainees in Bagram do not have trials. A review board staffed by U.S. military officers evaluates evidence against them and assesses whether they might pose a future threat to U.S. forces.

The U.S won't comment on specific juvenile detainees but stresses the centre's humane treatment of those being held.

SOUNDBITE: DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENCE FOR MEDIA OPERATIONS CAPTAIN JOHN KIRBY SAYING (English):

"Again, you'll have to let us take that question. And, obviously, we hold ourselves to a pretty high standard of -- of -- of detention operations and humane treatment of those that we have detained."

No decision has yet been reached on what will happen to the 50-plus foreign prisoners in Bagram when the U.S. hands full control of the prison to the Afghan government in September.

Masako Iijima, Reuters