Afghans protest against US special forces in Wardak

Over 500 Afghan men on Tuesday marched through the capital of Afghanistan’s restive Wardak province in an outburst anger against US special forces who have been accused of overseeing torture and killings of the innocent people in this province.

Angry protesters called for the immediate withdrawal of the American soldiers and were shouting “Death to America”, “Death to Obama” and “Death to speical forces” Reuters reported.

They also threatened to join the Taliban if their demand was not met.

Haji Abdul Qadim, an Afghan protester told Reuters, “If the situation remains like this, this province will collapse very soon. People will join the insurgency very soon because of the abuses of these forces.”

This comes as Aimal Faizi spokseman for president Hamid Karzai on Sunday announced that all U.S. special forces must leave Wardak province within two weeks following the accusations that Afghans working for them had tortured and killed innocent people.

Karzai’s demand could further complicate talks between the United States and Afghanistan over the presence of American troops once most NATO forces leave the country by the end of 2014.

Local residents and government officiasl quoted by Reuters said Afghan men working with a small unit of U.S. special forces had illegally detained, tortured and killed suspected insurgents.

In the meantime a U.S. defense official in Washington said a review in recent months in cooperation with Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry and National Directorate of Security (NDS) intelligence agency found no involvement of Western forces in any abuse.

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