The Afghan government has ordered the UK to hand over detainees held in military jails in Helmand and Kandahar.
An Afghan investigation found 23 prisoners in two UK facilities; one had been held for 31 months.
In contrast, on the day the investigator went to look, he found no detainees being held at US facilities in the two bases.
The move comes after the High Court in London ruled that holding detainees for more than 96 hours was unlawful.
The issue of Afghan civilians detained by foreign forces has become a personal one for President Hamid Karzai.
The last British troops will leave Helmand in a matter of months and, although the election to replace him is under way, the president has continued to be outspoken in his criticism of what he sees as abuses by foreign forces.
His investigation was led by a state prosecutor, Abdul Shakur Dadras.
Mr Dadras said: "In Afghan law foreigners are not allow to arrest anyone.
"Non-Afghan military forces do not have the right to hold any prisoners even for a day or an hour."
He said that of the 17 prisoners he saw in Camp Bastion none had been held for less than a month.
And he said he was told by the British authorities in the camp that the prisoner held for 31 months, Noor Ahmad, was a dangerous man and should not be released.
But Mr Dadras said national and international laws "do not allow them to hold someone for that long".
"Whether he is a dangerous man or not it is the right of Afghan forces to investigate," he said.
On a recent visit to Helmand, UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond told me the policy was right.
British troops detain suspected extremists captured on the battlefield under the authority of the UN security mandate that governs all their military actions in Afghanistan.
"We are engaged in combat here; we are allowed to use all necessary measures under the UN security council resolution," he said.
NOW EVEN MORE JIHADIS WILL GO FREE TO CONTINUE WAGING JIHAD.
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