US soldier charged with assaulting Afghan detainee

A US soldier has been charged with assaulting an Afghan detainee.

The detainee's hands were bound when the soldier hit him on the head with his rifle, said Major Gary Tallman, a spokesman at Bagram airbase.

The incident took place when a unit of the 82nd Airborne Division was on a mission in Khost, in eastern Paktia province. The exact date of the assault was not given.

Maj Tallman said it is the military's policy to protect prisoners and that appropriate action has been taken.

"The soldiers has been dealt with," he said.

The soldier was not named pending the investigation. The extent of the prisoner's injuries is not known.

The 82nd Airborne has been in Bagram for three weeks, helping to hunt down Taliban and al-Qaida still in the country.