Three Americans held in abuse at private jail in Afghanistan

By AMIR SHAH
The Associated Press

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

The U.S. military, facing a widening inquiry into Iraqi prisoner abuse, quickly distanced itself from the three, who had been posing as American agents before being detained Monday.

"The U.S. government does not employ or sponsor these men," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday.

Afghan officials also dismissed claims by the apparent ringleader, Jonathan K. Idema, that he was a "special adviser" to their security forces, saying the three had posed as military agents on a self-appointed hunt for terrorists.

The Americans and four Afghans detained with them "formed a group and pretended they were fighting terrorism," Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said.

"They arrested eight people from across Kabul and put them in their jail," the official said.

Another Afghan security official said intelligence and police officials who raided the group's house Monday found the prisoners strung up by their feet.

He said a report showed the men had been beaten.

Jalali said the Americans had no "legal link" to any Afghan or other authorities.

Still, officials said they were seen regularly around Kabul wearing military uniforms and armed with assault rifles.

Idema, described in media reports as an ex-special forces operative known as "Jack," first appeared in Afghanistan in late 2001, when U.S. and allied Afghan forces routed the Taliban.
 
He featured prominently in a top-selling book, "The Hunt for Bin Laden," which says he fought for 10 months alongside the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.

He also offered his services to Western television networks, including providing an apparent al-Qaida training video.

Yesterday, police gave a reporter a business card apparently handed out by Idema. The card bears an Afghan flag with a small Stars-and-Stripes at its center and a Northern Alliance flag. "Special Adviser" is printed on the bottom, and "Jack" is scrawled in the Dari language at the top.

None of the three phone numbers on the card worked.

In Washington, Boucher confirmed Idema was one of the men in custody and identified another as Brent Bennett. He gave no other details.

Larry Di Rita, chief spokesman for the Pentagon, said he did not know which service branch Idema had been in.

"He has a military background. But I don't know to what extent, how long he was in the service. I don't have those details," Di Rita said.

One police official said Idema's group appeared to be behind the disappearance of a man in west Kabul three weeks ago.

He said a man called Jack told the officers he had orders to arrest a terrorist before he could blow himself up in a government building. Jalali said all eight prisoners found Monday were released. It was not clear how long they had been held.

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Beth Lee said yesterday the three Americans had been visited by U.S. officials. She had no information on whether the United States had sought to take them into custody.