3 Posing as U.S. Agents Arrested in Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan forces arrested three Americans, including a purported former Green Beret, after raiding a jail they allegedly were running in Kabul and finding prisoners hanging from their feet, officials said Thursday.

The U.S. military, facing a widening inquiry into prisoner abuse, quickly distanced itself from the three, who had been posing as American agents. They were detained Monday.

“The U.S. government does not employ or sponsor these men,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Thursday.

Afghan officials also dismissed claims by the apparent leader of the group, Jonathan K. Idema, that he was a “special advisor” to Afghan security forces. They said the three had posed as military agents on a self-appointed hunt for terrorists.

The Americans and four Afghans who were detained along with them “formed a group and pretended they were fighting terrorism,” Interior Minister Ali Jalali said.

“They arrested eight people from across Kabul and put them in their jail,” he said.

Another Afghan security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said intelligence and police officials who raided the group’s house Monday found the prisoners strung up by their feet. He said a report on the raid said they had been beaten.

Jalali said the Americans had no “legal link” to any Afghan or other authorities. Officials said the three were seen regularly around Kabul, the Afghan capital, wearing military uniforms and armed with assault rifles.

Idema first appeared in Afghanistan in late 2001, when U.S. and allied Afghan forces routed the Taliban regime.