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The US-led force hunting militants in Afghanistan on Saturday dismissed rumors of "sexual abuse" by American soldiers, saying the allegations were an attempt by the ousted Taliban to scandalize the troops. Streets in the capital Kabul were rife with the rumors that several Afghan interpreters working with the US-led coalition force had been raped by their American employers. "First of all it's absolutely rumors," US military spokesman, Major Jon Siepmann told a news conference in Kabul. "It's in fact a lie, it's a very deliberate lie we believe crafted by the Taliban to specifically scare Afghans and play on Afghan culture's sensitivity," he said. "There is no truth to this rumor," he said, adding the coalition had interviewed several interpreters at its Bagram Air Base headquarters just north of Kabul, but nobody complained of any abuse. Siepmann said the rumors were being spread by the Taliban. "We believe it's part of a larger campaign of Taliban lies and... an unsuccessful attempt... to discredit the coalition." He said he believed the rumor originated from a single or perhaps multiple sources here in Kabul and "we are investigating that." As part of the operation to hunt down militant hideouts, the 20,000-strong US-led troops have hired hundreds of Afghans as translators. Several of the translators have been killed or wounded while accompanying troops in the battle fields, the most recent being an interpreter killed on June 18 during a gun-battle between US troops and militants in southern Uruzgan province. Meanwhile coalition troops have punished an American soldier for assaulting an Afghan National Army soldier during a combat operation, said US Brigadier General Thomas Mancino, commander of coalition Joint Task Force Phoenix, responsible of training the ANA. "This punishment was very much in line with the punishment he would have received if had struck an American soldier," he said, adding the punishment included "heavy" monetary fine. Afghanistan's National Army being trained under US-led internationally-backed efforts currently numbers about 13,000 troops. All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse. Quick Links
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