American troops seized Ghulam Mohammed Hotak in Wardak province, southwest of Kabul, on Saturday, Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zaher Mohammed Azimi.

Mohammed, his brother and one of his nephews were detained "because they have links to the Taliban," Azimi said.

Azimi didn't elaborate, and U.S. military officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Police chief Basir Salangi said American soldiers surrounded Hotak's house in a village near the provincial capital, Maydan Shahr, after dark on Saturday.

"Helicopters came in the morning and took him away," Salangi said.

Salangi said up to 700 people spent nine hours demonstrating in front of government offices in Maydan Shahr on Sunday, chanting for Hotak's release.

A powerful local leader, Hotak switched allegiance to the Taliban as they conquered much of Afghanistan in the mid-1990s and was a front-line commander against the opposing Northern Alliance.

Many supporters of the hard-line regime fled after a U.S. bombardment turned the tables against it in late 2001. But Hotak returned to his village, pledged allegiance to President Hamid Karzai and tried unsuccessfully to get himself appointed governor.

Officers from the U.S. military as well as the international peacekeeping force attended a ceremony on May 5 when Hotak's men handed over hundreds of assault rifles, machine-guns and rockets.

The U.S. military last week announced a new military operation designed to protect presidential elections slated for Oct. 9 from Taliban attacks and intimidation by warlords resisting a U.N. program to disarm them.

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