KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — The 29-year-old engineering student was standing outside his classroom here on Saturday morning when he said two pickup trucks full of armed men pulled up. The men, said to be members of a C.I.A.-backed Afghan strike force, grabbed him, tied his hands behind his back, draped a black hood over his head and drove him to an undisclosed location.
[...]
Mr. Qayum, who lives in a village that the Taliban frequently visit, said he was interrogated for hours at what Mr. Karzai called an American prison. The captors asked if he knew any Taliban commanders. They asked specifically about his neighbor, a farmer, and whether he could bring the man to them.
“I told them that just because the Taliban are coming in our village, seeking food and shelter and sitting with people, it doesn’t mean I am working for them,” Mr. Qayum said. “I told them if they find any sort of evidence that I am involved in any activities, big or small, then you are allowed to punish me.”
They punished him anyway, he said, punching him repeatedly and whipping his legs and back with a cable. He said they placed a blanket over his head and sat on him, making him feel like he was suffocating.
[...]
The American-led military coalition here said it had no involvement in any such event. The C.I.A. could not be reached for comment.
[...]
The episode seems to have struck a nerve with Mr. Karzai, a Kandahar native. He told a crowd of journalists at the presidential palace on Sunday that “something horrible happened,” adding that he worked until midnight to free Mr. Qayum.
[...]
The student’s daylong detention was cited by President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan at a news conference in Kabul, the capital, on Sunday as part of his justification for a ban announced later in the day on foreign forces from entering any Afghan school or university. He said other students had also been detained at the behest of American-controlled Afghan forces.
NYT
[...]
Mr. Qayum, who lives in a village that the Taliban frequently visit, said he was interrogated for hours at what Mr. Karzai called an American prison. The captors asked if he knew any Taliban commanders. They asked specifically about his neighbor, a farmer, and whether he could bring the man to them.
“I told them that just because the Taliban are coming in our village, seeking food and shelter and sitting with people, it doesn’t mean I am working for them,” Mr. Qayum said. “I told them if they find any sort of evidence that I am involved in any activities, big or small, then you are allowed to punish me.”
They punished him anyway, he said, punching him repeatedly and whipping his legs and back with a cable. He said they placed a blanket over his head and sat on him, making him feel like he was suffocating.
[...]
The American-led military coalition here said it had no involvement in any such event. The C.I.A. could not be reached for comment.
[...]
The episode seems to have struck a nerve with Mr. Karzai, a Kandahar native. He told a crowd of journalists at the presidential palace on Sunday that “something horrible happened,” adding that he worked until midnight to free Mr. Qayum.
[...]
The student’s daylong detention was cited by President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan at a news conference in Kabul, the capital, on Sunday as part of his justification for a ban announced later in the day on foreign forces from entering any Afghan school or university. He said other students had also been detained at the behest of American-controlled Afghan forces.
NYT
Later, his spokesman said Mr. Karzai had asked that the C.I.A. hand over the Afghan forces that carried out the arrest and interrogation.
[...]
Among Mr. Karzai’s critical comments on Sunday, which came at an early-morning news conference in honor of women’s day in Afghanistan, he charged that the American government and the Taliban, while using different means, had in effect colluded to keep Afghanistan unstable to justify a continued American military presence.
[...]
In recent days, Mr. Karzai has been the most critical about some of the policies that American officials have described as most important to their mission here, including the widespread use of Special Operations forces and a continuing say in how battlefield detainees are vetted and released. He has seized on both as violations of Afghan sovereignty, barring American commandos from Wardak Province and bristling at critical terms in a negotiated agreement on Bagram Prison.
A result was a last-minute refusal by American officials on Saturday to hand the Afghan government full control of the prison.
[...]
“His prestige as president was degraded in the eyes of the public by the Americans’ refusal to hand over responsibility of the prison to the Afghans,” said Atiqullah Amarkhel, a former Afghan Army general and a military analyst. “I think it drives him crazy when he sees it’s not happening.”
Mr. Amarkhel added: “It also shows a deep sense of distrust between two onetime allies. To the public, it means all the power is with foreigners.”
NYT
[...]
Among Mr. Karzai’s critical comments on Sunday, which came at an early-morning news conference in honor of women’s day in Afghanistan, he charged that the American government and the Taliban, while using different means, had in effect colluded to keep Afghanistan unstable to justify a continued American military presence.
[...]
In recent days, Mr. Karzai has been the most critical about some of the policies that American officials have described as most important to their mission here, including the widespread use of Special Operations forces and a continuing say in how battlefield detainees are vetted and released. He has seized on both as violations of Afghan sovereignty, barring American commandos from Wardak Province and bristling at critical terms in a negotiated agreement on Bagram Prison.
A result was a last-minute refusal by American officials on Saturday to hand the Afghan government full control of the prison.
[...]
“His prestige as president was degraded in the eyes of the public by the Americans’ refusal to hand over responsibility of the prison to the Afghans,” said Atiqullah Amarkhel, a former Afghan Army general and a military analyst. “I think it drives him crazy when he sees it’s not happening.”
Mr. Amarkhel added: “It also shows a deep sense of distrust between two onetime allies. To the public, it means all the power is with foreigners.”
NYT
Really?
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