KABUL — Afghan President Hamid Karzai is calling on his own security forces to clean up their act and end incidents of torture and abuse of the Afghan people.
The remarks are a shift in tone from Karzai's speeches that have solely blamed foreign troops for abuse.
Karzai told parliament Wednesday that Afghan forces are violating their own people's rights, making it harder for him to raise the issue when abuses are carried out by foreigners.
He says he didn't initially want to believe reports that his own security forces had tortured prisoners.
Karzai has also blamed U.S. special operations troops together with Afghan forces for a series of alleged incidents in Wardak province, and has called for the withdrawal of U.S. special operations troops there.
U.S. officials say they are investigating.
© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.