Afghan security forces have arrested three Americans and four Afghans after a shootout in the capital and accused them of illegally detaining and interrogating locals, security officials said on Wednesday. A U.S. embassy spokesman identified one of the Americans as Jonathan K. Idema, who the U.S. military says has misrepresented himself in the past as a U.S. government or military official.
Police said they exchanged small-arms fire during the raid on the illegal jail in the relatively upmarket Karteh Parwan district of Kabul on Monday, but there were no injuries.
A senior intelligence Afghan official, who did not want to be identified, said the suspects had been using a private house to detain local people. "They carried illegal arms," he said. "They arrested and interrogated people illegally."
| Either he's got a scam going on or he's a nut. |
Police said several bearded Afghans, apparently detained by the group, were found in the house. Members of the group detaining them were wearing local and foreign military uniforms. "We are investigating to find out what they were up to," the intelligence official said. U.S. embassy spokesman Roy Glover said he understood three of the men had identified themselves as Americans, including Idema, who had been visited by U.S. consular staff.
The U.S. military said in statements this week that Idema had "allegedly represented himself as an American government and/or military official". "The public should be aware that Idema does not represent the American government and we do not employ him," they said. An Afghan journalist working for a U.S. television network said a man he knew as Idema had tried to sell what the American described as al Qaeda training videos to U.S. networks. |