Report: 'US troops abused Afghan detainees'

Detainees in United States military custody in Afghanistan were the victims of widespread abuse by "young and poorly trained soldiers", according to a report published today.

A 2,000-page confidential file obtained by The New York Times reveals brutal treatment of prisoners, apparently often born out of little more than boredom.

The report focuses on the deaths of two Afghan men in Bagram in December 2002.

The first, a 22-year-old taxi driver, known as Dilawar, was said to have been so badly beaten his legs could no longer bend. He was chained by the wrists to the ceiling of his cell where he eventually died.

Months later, Army investigators learned that most of his interrogators believed he was an innocent man who drove his taxi past the American base at the wrong time, according to the report.

Another detainee, Habibullah, died there six days earlier, also shackled to the ceiling.

"It looked like he had been dead for a while, and it looked like nobody cared," said one of the medics called to the scene, Staff Sgt Rodney Glass.

In statements to investigators, soldiers describe one female interrogator stepping on the neck of one detainee and kicking another in the genitals.

Another prisoner was said to have been forced to roll back and forth on the floor, kissing the boots of his two interrogators as he went.

"The Bagram file depicts young, poorly trained soldiers in repeated incidents of abuse," the New York Times reports.

"The harsh treatment, which has resulted in criminal charges against seven soldiers, went well beyond the two deaths."

The newspaper said it had obtained a copy of the file from someone involved in the investigation who was critical of the methods used at Bagram and the military's response to the deaths.

The Army's Criminal Investigation Command concluded last October that the Dilawar and Habibullah incidents implicated 28 officers. Seven were later charged.

Pentagon spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel John Skinner, said the "comprehensive" investigation was indicative of how seriously such reports were taken.

"The humane treatment of detainees has always been our standard," he said.

"In context there was a relatively small number of incidents, but even one is unacceptable and we take them very seriously and have conducted several thorough investigations."