WASHINGTON - The U.S. has detained more than 83,000 foreigners in the four years of the war on terror, documents show.
The Bush administration defends the practice of holding detainees in prisons from Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay as a critical tool to stop the insurgency in Iraq, maintain stability in Afghanistan and get known and suspected terrorists off the streets.
About 14,500 detainees remain in U.S. custody, primarily in Iraq.
The number has steadily grown since the first CIA paramilitary officers touched down in Afghanistan in the fall of 2001, setting up more than 20 facilities including an abandoned factory outside Kabul used for CIA detention and interrogation.
In Iraq, the number in military custody hit a peak of 13,900 on Nov. 1, according to the military.
Some 82,400 people have been detained by the military in Afghanistan and Iraq, officials say. Many are freed after initial questioning.
Another 700 detainees were sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. About 500 remain there.
In Iraq, the Defense Department says 5,569 detainees have been held for more than six months, and 3,801 have been held more than a year. Some 229 have been locked up for more than two years.
