Afghans free American accused of torture

AN American jailed for two years in Afghanistan on charges of torturing alleged terrorists in a makeshift jail was freed two months early on yesterday under a government decree.

Edward Caraballo, 44, from New York, waved to reporters at Kabul’s international airport as he arrived in the back of a four-wheel drive vehicle accompanied by heavily armed American security personnel.

A US Embassy official said an American consular officer accompanied Caraballo to the airport from the Pol-i-Charki prison, where he had been held since July 2004. He later caught a flight to Dubai on his way back to the United States.