NEW YORK, March 5: US military forces in Afghanistan have mistreated detainees, arbitrarily detained civilians and used excessive force in arrests of non-combatants, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Friday.

The rights watchdog said it concluded "the US-administered system of arrest and detention in Afghanistan exists outside of the rule of law". The United States has detention facilities at Bagram, Kandahar, Jalalabad and Asadabad military bases.

"The United States is setting a terrible example in Afghanistan on detention practices," said Brad Adams, executive director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch.

"Civilians are being held in a legal black hole - with no tribunals, no legal counsel, no family visits and no basic legal protections." And Washington has not responded adequately to questions about arrest and detention practices, the group charged.

It gave the example of three detainees it said were known to have died while in US custody, two at the Bagram airbase in Dec 2002 and one at Asadabad in June last year.

The first two deaths were ruled homicide by US military pathologists who performed autopsies on the two men, but officials have yet to explain what happened to any of the three men, the group said. "This stonewalling must stop," said Mr Adams. "The United States is obligated to investigate allegations and prosecute those who have violated the law. There is no sign that serious investigations are taking place."

The 59-page report is based on research conducted by Human Rights Watch in Afghanistan and Pakistan last year and early this year.

"Human Rights Watch documented cases of US forces using military tactics, including unprovoked deadly force, during operations to apprehend civilians in uncontested residential areas, situations where law enforcement standards and tactics should have been used," the group said.

"Released detainees have said that US forces severely beat them, doused them with cold water and subjected them to freezing temperatures.

Many said they were forced to stay awake, or to stand or kneel in painful positions for extended periods of time," the report said. It also reported "frequent arbitrary arrests of civilians, apparently based on mistaken or faulty intelligence". -AFP