AFGHANISTAN U.S. forces kill 12 insurgents Karzai calls for more control over U.S. operations

The New York Times reports U.S. soldiers have abused prisoners.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- U.S. airstrikes and ground troops killed 12 insurgents who had attacked a coalition patrol in eastern Afghanistan's border region in the latest wave of fighting with Taliban-led rebels, the U.S. military said Sunday.
The United Nations called for Afghan human rights investigators to be allowed into Bagram, the main U.S. base in Afghanistan, after The New York Times reported poorly trained U.S. soldiers there had repeatedly abused prisoners.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, on the eve of his Monday meeting with President Bush in Washington, said he was angry about the reported abuse and called for more Afghan control over the operations of the 16,700 U.S. troops in his country as well as punishment for any U.S. soldiers who mistreat prisoners.
Alive
Also on Sunday, an Afghan government spokesman said a kidnapped Italian aid worker Clementina Cantoni is alive and healthy and that Afghan officials are in contact with her kidnappers to secure her release. The announcement came two days after reports quoting the purported kidnapper as saying he had killed her because the government did not agree to his demands.
Saturday's fighting in eastern Paktika province left one U.S. soldier slightly wounded. Spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara said rebels had sneaked across the border from Pakistan and had opened fire on American and Afghan forces.
Pakistani military spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said shells from the fighting landed in Pakistan, and that no one was hurt there. But a Pakistani intelligence official in the area said on condition of anonymity that villagers had retrieved the bodies of five unidentified men.
After a winter lull, loyalists of the ousted Taliban regime and other militants opposed to Karzai's U.S.-backed government have ramped up their insurgency.
The latest violence came as Karzai prepared to meet Bush in Washington, where the two leaders are expected to discuss the prisoner abuse allegations among other topics.
The New York Times on Sunday detailed fresh allegations of mistreatment of prisoners by U.S. forces, citing the Army's criminal investigation into the deaths of two Afghans at the Bagram base north of the capital Kabul in December 2002.
The U.S. military has said it would not tolerate any abuse. The White House said Friday that Bush was "alarmed" by the reports of abuse and wants them investigated thoroughly.