US had role in Taleban prisoner deaths

US SOLDIERS took part in the torture of Taleban prisoners and may have had a role in the "disappearance" of around 3,000 men in Mazar-i-Sharif in north-west Afghanistan, according to a new documentary.

Massacre at Mazar, by Scots film producer Jamie Doran, was shown on Wednesday in the Reichstag, the German parliament building in Berlin and the European parliament in Strasbourg.

Much of Mr Doran’s footage in the 20-minute preview of a future full-length documentary film was taken secretly.

In one sequence, a witness claims he saw a US soldier break an Afghan prisoner’s neck and pour acid on others.

"The Americans did whatever they wanted. We had no power to stop them." Some prisoners were beaten up, taken outside only to "disappear", the witness said.

Two other witnesses claim they were forced to drive into the desert with hundreds of Taleban prisoners who were in containers. The orders came from the local US commander, they alleged. Prisoners who had not suffocated to death were then shot dead while 30 to 40 US soldiers stood by watching.

In another sequence, a witness admits to having executed prisoners, while another Afghan, said to have been a senior officer under the Northern Alliance’s General Rashid Dostum, was said to have gone into hiding following threats to his life.

The screening of the film at the European Parliament in prompted calls for an international commission to investigate the charges.