An American accused of torture in Afghanistan has said he was working for the US government, and has evidence to prove it.
Jonathan "Jack" Idema said he had been in frequent contact with the Pentagon and other US agencies in the course of his work tracking Islamic militants in Afghanistan.
"We were working for the US counter-terrorist group and working with the Pentagon and some other federal agencies," Idema told reporters before the opening of his trial.
"We were in contact directly by fax and email and phone with Donald Rumsfeld's office," he said, referring to the US Secretary of Defence.
The US military and NATO peacekeepers have said the group was not acting on behalf of, or in conjunction with, their forces.
Idema and his two American colleagues were arrested on July 5 after a brief shootout in Kabul. They and some Afghan accomplices had illegally detained and interrogated in a Kabul house eight people they believed to be terrorists, Afghan
officials said.
The three face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty of illegally taking people hostage, detaining and torturing them.
The arrests have been a headache for foreign forces in Afghanistan, where the U.S. military has been under scrutiny for its treatment of suspected militant prisoners.
The US military has been accused by US-based Human Rights Watch of "systematic" abuse of detainees.