Dispute between US and Afghan officials over the involvement of a member of an American Special Forces unit in torturing and murdering alleged insurgents in Afghanistan has strained ties between Washington and Kabul.\n<\/p>\n
While Afghan authorities are seeking the arrest and prosecution of a man named Zakaria Kandahari, who they insist is a US-born American citizen, along with much of his unit, on torture and murder charges, American officials claim their forces are being wrongly blamed for \u00c5\u201catrocities carried out by a rogue Afghan unit,\u201d The New York Times<\/i> reports Monday.\n<\/p>\n
This is while the Afghan officials emphasize that they have \u00c5\u201csubstantial evidence of American involvement\u201d in employing \u00c5\u201ccounterinsurgency tactics\u201d in Wardak Province which has left scores of Afghans either killed or missing.\n<\/p>\n
These officials say, according to the report, they have \u00c5\u201ctestimony and documents\u201d implicating Kandahari and his unit in the killings or disappearances of 15 Afghans in Wardak, further noting that Kandahari is \u00c5\u201cof Afghan descent but born and raised in the United States.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
At the center of the allegations mentioned by Afghan officials is an American Special Forces A team that has been based in the Nerkh district until recently.<\/p>\n
They say among the evidence in their possession is a videotape of Kandahari \u00c5\u201ctorturing one of the 15 Afghans, a man they identified as Sayid Mohammad,\u201d the report further states.\n<\/p>\n
Afghan officials who have seen the videotape say \u00c5\u201ca person speaking English with an American accent can be heard supervising the torture session\u201d being carried out by Kandahari.\n<\/p>\n
An unnamed American official, speaking on condition of anonymity, is, however, cited in the report as confirming the existence of the video showing Kandahari but denying that he was an American citizen.\n<\/p>\n
\u00c5\u201cEverybody in that video is Afghan; there are no American voices,\u201d the official is quoted as saying, further claiming that Kandahari had been an \u00c5\u201cinterpreter\u201d working for the team in the Nerkh district \u00c5\u201cwithout pay in exchange for being allowed to live on the base.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
The report goes on to add that after investigating the events in the Nerkh district and finding the claims of American misconduct reliable, the head of the Afghan military General Sher Mohammad Karimi \u00c5\u201cpersonally asked the American commander at the time, General John Allen, to hand Mr. Kandahari over to the Afghan authorities.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\u00c5\u201cGeneral Allen personally promised General Karimi that the American military would do so within 24 hours,\u201d a senior Afghan official is quoted in the report as saying. \u00c5\u201cBut <\/p>\n