US soldiers accused of Afghan prisoner abuse

Two US soldiers serving in Afghanistan have been charged with the abuse of Afghan detainees, the US military said today.

Two US soldiers serving in Afghanistan have been charged with the abuse of Afghan detainees, the US military said today.

They were "formally charged with detainee mistreatment and dereliction of the duty to report detainee mistreatment," the US military said in a statement.

The soldiers have been charged in an Article 32 investigation, the military equivalent of a civilian grand jury hearing, for an incident that occurred in the east of the country this year.

Eighteen witnesses testified during the hearing which took place yesterday at a US military base in eastern Khost province, it said.

Any suspicion of abuse by US soldiers is likely to further erode public support for international troops, now fighting a war in Afghanistan that has entered its eighth year.

In 2005, two US soldiers were charged with abusing Afghan detainees at a base in southern Uruzgan province and some Afghans have claimed they were abused while detained at Bagram, the US army's main base in Afghanistan.

The US has around 32,000 troops in Afghanistan, either as part of a Nato-led force or in a separate US-led coalition force.

Reuters