NEW YORK, May 13: Mistreatment of prisoners by US military and intelligence personnel in Afghanistan is a systemic problem and not limited to a few isolated cases, Human Rights Watch said in a report on Thursday.

The New York-based organization called on the United States to immediately release the results of past investigations into misconduct by US personnel in Afghanistan, including information about two detainees who were killed in US custody in Dec 2002 and another who died in June last year.

"Afghans have been telling us for well over a year about mistreatment in US custody," said John Sifton, Afghanistan researcher for Human Rights Watch. "We warned US officials repeatedly about these problems in 2003 and 2004.

It's time now for the United States to publicize the results of its investigations of abuse, fully prosecute those responsible, and provide access to independent monitors."

In a March report, the Human Rights Watch documented numerous cases of mistreatment of detainees at various detention sites in Afghanistan, including extreme sleep deprivation, exposure to freezing temperatures, and severe beatings.

Detainees complained about being photographed in the nude. Some of these abusive practices during interrogation were similar to those recently reported in Iraq. Recent media reports have also documented new cases of mistreatment in Afghanistan.

The Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) _ an autonomous institution within the Afghan government _ has also received numerous complaints about abuses by US troops in the southern and eastern regions, where US military operations occur regularly.

The commission repeatedly raised concerns about abuses with US officials last year as well as this year, as did local government representatives and officials with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

Human Rights Watch made a request to US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on May 6 asking for access to all detention sites maintained by the United States in Iraq, Afghanistan and other undisclosed locations, the report said.

"The United States has shown that it can't police its own prisons," Mr Sifton said. "Human rights monitoring groups should be given access to all detention facilities in Afghanistan as well as in Iraq."

The HRW said the United States had still not provided any adequate explanation for the three detainee deaths that took place in Afghanistan in 2002 and 2003. The first two deaths, which took place in Dec 2002, were specifically ruled homicide by US military pathologists.