Poppies and the lagging anti-opium campaign in Afghanistan had been set as the main topic for President Hamid Karzai’s four-day visit to Washington. A sharply worded cable from the United States embassy in Kabul had blamed Mr. Karzai for being “unwilling to assert strong leadership.”

In the meantime, The New York Times published leaked details from a U.S. criminal investigation into the deaths of two Afghan prisoners in the detention center in Bagram, Afghanistan. They left no doubt that torture was cruel and routine in the Bagram center, that many U.S. Army interrogators and guards were involved, and that knowledge and condoning of the torture must have extended far up the chain of command. When it comes to the treatment of prisoners, the United States has leadership problems of its own.

Coupled with the findings of investigations of torture at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and repeated reports of mistreatment at the military’s detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a clear pattern has emerged. Congress should step in to ensure that the military finds out where attitudes and practices that condoned torture originated. Those responsible, including high-ranking officers, should be tried for violating military rules.

Among the shocking details of the Bagram investigation was the use of the “peroneal strike,” a blow just below the knee. Both prisoners at Bagram were repeatedly dealt peroneal strikes and both soon died. A doctor testified that one man’s injuries were similar to someone who had been run over by a bus.

Some of the Bagram interrogators later were moved to Abu Ghraib, where they practiced similar torture as shown in pictures displayed around the world.

President Karzai was rightly furious over the latest revelations. “We are angry about this. We want justice. We want the people responsible for this sort of brutal behavior punished and tried,” he told CNN television Sunday night.

Mr. Karzai softened his remarks somewhat by saying that the behavior of “one or two” soldiers “must not reflect on the U.S.” or its people. But he said he would ask for the custody all Afghan prisoners to be transferred to Afghan authorities and for prior notification of any new targets of investigation so that Afghan forces rather than U.S. troops could make the arrests and conduct prosecutions.

The United States cannot be expected to go that far, but a middle ground may be acceptable. U.S. intelligence agents need to interrogate key suspects in the long and thus far unsuccessful search for Osama bin Laden. But the roundups of ordinary protesters and troublemakers must soon by the business of the new Afghan government.

The United States has become increasingly identified with the torturing of prisoners. The issuance of new rules and the prosecution of a few enlisted men and women is no answer. Anti-Americanism can be expected throughout the world as long as the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq continues. What is needed right now is a public investigation of interrogation methods with publication of the results – not just leaks to newspapers. Responsible higher-ups must be identified and punished, including those who manipulated official policy to permit torture.