Afghan officer charged in hotel assault

COLUMBIA — An Afghan officer who came to South Carolina for police training was arrested Tuesday and charged with assaulting a maid at a Columbia hotel, police said.

Mohammad Arif Nabel, 43, of Kabul, is charged with kidnapping and assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, both felonies, Sheriff Leon Lott said.

The 38-year-old maid told police Nabel invited her into his room Tuesday morning requesting shampoo, then grabbed her and threw her on the bed. The woman said that as Nabel groped her, she fought back and managed to get away, Lott said.

A lieutenant colonel in the Afghanistan University Police Academy, Nabel and four other Afghan officers were training with the Columbia Police Department, which was chosen by the U.S. Army to host the pilot program.

The rest of Nabel's group will return to Afghanistan on Saturday as scheduled. Training was suspended Tuesday after the victim reported the incident.

Investigators learned that a similar incident occurred last week at the hotel. Nabel has been implicated but not charged in that incident, Lott said.

Nabel told authorities he did nothing wrong, Lott said.

Nabel was being held Tuesday at a Richland County jail and will be prosecuted in the United States, Lott said.