Several hundred residents of Afghanistan’s volatile Wardak Province are marching on the Afghan parliament building in Kabul to protest the presence of U.S. Special Forces in their area.
Police said between 200 and 500 demonstrators have gathered in the Afghan capital, chanting anti-American slogans and demanding the release of nine local citizens they say were detained by U.S. forces.
"We have gathered here to protest against the [U.S.] Special Forces in Maidan, Wardak, because they enter people's houses and torture innocent people, they have also detained 10 people and it is not clear what will happen to them," one protester told Reuters.
U.S. officials say only four the nine missing men were arrested in joint U.S.-Afghan raids.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai last month asked all U.S. Special Forces to leave Wardak, accusing them of murders and disappearances.
But he agreed to give U.S. commanders more time there to create a solution for maintaining security in the province, which militants use as a corridor to bring weapons into Kabul.
Police said between 200 and 500 demonstrators have gathered in the Afghan capital, chanting anti-American slogans and demanding the release of nine local citizens they say were detained by U.S. forces.
"We have gathered here to protest against the [U.S.] Special Forces in Maidan, Wardak, because they enter people's houses and torture innocent people, they have also detained 10 people and it is not clear what will happen to them," one protester told Reuters.
U.S. officials say only four the nine missing men were arrested in joint U.S.-Afghan raids.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai last month asked all U.S. Special Forces to leave Wardak, accusing them of murders and disappearances.
But he agreed to give U.S. commanders more time there to create a solution for maintaining security in the province, which militants use as a corridor to bring weapons into Kabul.