Karzai backs US on prisoners' rights

Mr Karzai stressed that detainees should be well treated

Afghanistan's interim leader, Hamid Karzai, who is on a visit to the United States, has said he supports America's policy of not granting prisoner of war status to al-Qaeda or Taleban detainees.

The people that are detained in Guantanamo, they are terrorists, they are not prisoners of war

Afghan leader Hamid Karzai

"I see it in very clear terms, they are criminals, they brutalised Afghanistan, they destroyed our land, there was no war going on, it was plain killing fields," he said.

But Mr Karzai went on to say that the detainees should be well treated: "They were bad, we were good, so we should treat them nicely," he said.

US President George W Bush is currently reviewing the legal status of the captured fighters held in Cuba, in what could be a step towards improving prison conditions that have been criticised internationally.

Mr Rumsfeld has vigorously defended the US position

Mr Bush has ruled out giving the men POW status, arguing that they were "killers" and "terrorists" who did not belong to a recognised army.

It is possible the president may decide that they are covered by the Geneva conventions, although only with the lesser protection afforded to what are called illegal combatants, says the BBC's Jon Leyne.

International pressure

The US has come under pressure from some countries and human rights groups who say the fighters should be treated as prisoners of war, or that at least the US should recognise that the Geneva Convention applies to them.

Secretary of State Colin Powell believes the convention should apply, while others like Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld say the detainees should be treated as "unlawful combatants".

The US says it is not mistreating the prisoners

The arguments are important because they will determine what level of rights are given to 158 detainees captured in Afghanistan and currently held at Camp X-Ray at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

President Bush said that at a meeting of the National Security Council on Monday, all were agreed the detainees would be treated humanely and at least within the spirit of the Geneva Convention.

He said he would make a decision on their legal status later.

Calls from allies

The US has also come under pressure from some of its allies whose citizens have been captured with the Taleban or al-Qaeda.

Saudi Arabia, which said that more than 100 of its nationals were being held at Guantanamo, called on the US to send them back for interrogation at home.

Britain, which has three citizens detained in Guantanamo and another two held in Afghanistan, said last week it wanted the US to return the suspects to stand trial at home.

French foreign ministry officials have also been visiting the Guantanamo Bay base to investigate reports that French citizens were among the detainees.