12 May 2004	Wednesday	21 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

KABUL, May 11: The US military, under fire for its treatment of prisoners in Iraq, on Tuesday turned down a request by Afghanistan's human rights body for access to Afghans in its custody.

Concerned that local prisoners may be treated like those in Iraq, the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission has sought access to Afghans detained for suspected Islamic militant links and held at various US bases in Afghanistan.

"We have no intention right now of changing our policy with regard to access to persons we control," said Lieutenant-General David Barno, commander of US-led forces in Afghanistan.

He told a news conference the International Committee of the Red Cross, which has a traditional mandate to visit prisoners of war across the globe, including in Afghanistan, represented the world in this regard.

"We are confident that the ICRC can represent all organizations who have interest in persons we control. We feel they provide more than sufficient outside objective look."

The Afghan rights body said it had received complaints from more than two dozen detainees released from US custody about their treatment in detention. And many Afghans are still waiting to hear from the US military about its investigations into the deaths of two prisoners in late 2002 at Bagram airbase to the north of Kabul.

Mr Barno said he was not aware of any allegations of abuse from detainees and that 'significant changes' had been made at the facility since those deaths. In a report late last year, Amnesty International criticized the United States for its failure to make public any details of an investigation into the deaths of the two Afghans.

The US military said in March last year that the deaths of the two prisoners had been listed as homicides, and it was investigating whether criminal charges would be brought. -Reuters