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| The fingers are rising on the role of US Special forces in Afghanistan |
The arrested Afghan translator, working for U.S. special forces, has denied his involvement in the torcher and killing of Afghan civilians, he said he has been acting on orders from his U.S. military handlers, reported Reuters.
Zakeria Kandahari was detained by Afghan investigators six weeks due to his alleged involvement in atrocities against civilians in Wardak province.
Kandahari said in a recorded interview to military investigators that he had worked for U.S. special forces across Afghanistan for nine years, most recently in Wardak's Nerkh district.
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| US Forces arrest to investigate local Afghans |
He identified three U.S. special forces soldiers named, "Dave, chief of the operations, Hagen and Chris", he also told Afghan military interrogators that the all three of them had been fluent in Dari and Pashto languages, which are mainly spoken in Afghanistan.
Zakeria Kandhari vindicated his position by telling investigators that, "I was a low-rank translator and had no access to roam around inside the base, or in interrogation rooms,".
The interviewed document also concluded that, “Kandahari rejects all allegations leveled to him and links the three soldiers to the killings"
The case of Kandhari threatens already disturbed relations between the government and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) which has already been tense over the issue of civilian deaths by ISAF in Afghanistan.
A senior spokesman for the force told Reuters on Tuesday that,
"U.S. forces conducted several investigations which determined there was no credible evidence to substantiate misconduct by ISAF or U.S. forces,"
"Having said that, ISAF takes all allegations of detainee abuse seriously and we will continue to cooperate with the Afghan government on this matter," he said.
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| An Afghan women displays the pics of missing persons |
On the other hand, the Investigators said in the document Sayed Mohammad, a Wardak resident, was seen in a mobile phone video being beaten by Kandahari, who the investigator said was a senior interpreter for U.S. special forces, Mohammad was later found dead.
"I also kicked him several times while I was taking him to the base. I handed him over to Mr. Dave and Mr. Hagen, but later I saw his body in a black body bag," Kandahari told his interrogators, according to the record, written in Dari.
Afghan officials and relatives of Muhammad say that his body was found near the Nerkh special forces base in May with both feet cut off.
The abuse allegations prompted President Hamid Karzai in March to bar elite U.S. troops from Wardak province of Afghanistan.