Teen Afghan Prisoners Claim Abuse at US Site

Two Afghan teenagers held prisoner by the US at the Bagram air base say American interrogators beat them, deprived them of sleep, photographed them naked, and made them look at porn to humiliate them sexually. The teens' accounts to the Washington Post have not been substantiated, but they have the potential to be explosive for the Obama administration, which promised to end such detainee abuse. The actions described are prohibited by the Army Field Manual and considered illegal.

The teens were apparently held in a secretive prison at the base run by Special Operation forces. They say interrogators punched them and slapped them while trying to get them to admit to Taliban ties. Both deny such ties. One said his interrogator made him watch porn while showing him a photo of his mother, and both were held in cramped solitary confinement for at least two weeks. Guards would pound on the cells and shout to prevent them from sleeping. "That was the hardest time I have ever had in my life," said one. "It was better to just kill me. But they would not kill me." (More Afghanistan stories.)