Intelligence reports suggested that the Taliban's shadow government there imposed a curfew, imposed high informal taxes and delivered swift, harshjustice.
Mr Clarke, who had spoken of his dislike of harsh penal policies, was replaced as justice secretary by Chris Grayling, a relative hardliner who is already being encouraged to stand up to European human-rights judges.
Meanwhile, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat asked the Justice Department to investigate whether the CIA obstructed justice by destroying the videotapes that documented the harsh 2002 interrogations of the alleged terrorists.