KABUL, 28 August 2005 — Afghanistan yesterday condemned as too lenient the jail terms of up to three months each for two US soldiers whose abuse of Afghan detainees led to the prisoners’ deaths. “We think the punishments given to those who have severely violated human rights are very light and unexpectedly lenient,” said President Hamid Karzai’s spokesman Karim Rahimi. “They should have been given severe punishments.” The two soldiers were tried in a US military court in Texas, leading to the first judicial sentences handed to any American soldier for prisoner abuse in Afghanistan since 2001. “We’re disappointed,” Rahimi said.

The courts-martial occurred in the past few weeks at Fort Bliss in Texas, where the soldiers were charged in relation to the deaths of two Afghans in detention at Bagram, the main US base in Afghanistan, in late 2002. One of the two victims was a 22-year-old taxi driver known only as Dilawar. The other was Mulla Habibullah, who was aged about 30.

The Army has publicly acknowledged the two deaths and announced in October that up to 28 US soldiers may face charges as a result. Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission said that, while the convictions were a step in the right direction, the punishments were not in line with the magnitude of the crime. “We welcome the recent developments on the prosecution of the two soldiers, but we are disappointed with the sentences given to them,” Ahmad Nader Nadery, a spokesman for the commission, told AFP.

According to Human Rights Watch, which said it has obtained unreleased Army reports about the deaths, the men were chained to the ceiling while standing, one at the waist and one by the wrists, while their feet remained on the ground. One of them was beaten over a five-day period until the tissue in his legs was severely damaged, the New York-based rights group has said.

An autopsy performed by a medical examiner and cited by the Army had shown that Dilawar’s legs were so badly damaged by blows that amputations would have been necessary, according to an Army report dated July 6, 2004. The second man, Habibullah, had died of a pulmonary embolism apparently caused by blood clots formed in his legs from the beatings, according to a June 1, 2004, military report. Rights groups have heavily criticized the US military for abusing detainees in Afghanistan — at least eight of whom have died while in custody.

Meanwhile, one US soldier was killed and four more wounded in a bomb attack in southeastern Afghanistan, the US military said, as American casualties mount during their bloodiest year so far in the country. The soldiers were patrolling in the restive southeastern province of Paktika ahead of parliamentary elections next month when a roadside bomb hit their armored vehicle, a statement said.

The incident comes less than a week after four US soldiers were killed and three wounded in a similar attack in the southern province of Zabul. The soldiers were part of a combat patrol targeting rebels who have threatened to disrupt the upcoming elections on Sept. 18, it added.