WASHINGTON, May 9 (Xinhua) -- The Pentagon has cancelled the planned assignment of an ex-Guantanamo commander as the top U.S. military leader in Pakistan, U.S. newspapers reported Friday.

    The Pentagon gave no explanation, but Maj. Gen. Jay W. Hood has been excoriated in the Pakistani news media for one of his previous jobs: commander of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since he was tipped for the post in Pakistan, both the Washington Post and the New York Times reported.

    During Hood's command at Guantanamo from 2004 to 2006, military authorities force-fed with tubes detainees who were engaging in hunger strikes at the prison.

    Also during his tenure, reports that a Guantanamo guard may have desecrated a Koran stirred wide protests in the Islamic world.

    The decision to withdraw Hood's assignment reflects the widening shadow that the Guantanamo prison is casting over U.S. foreign policy.

    While the United States considers Pakistan a close ally in its counter-terrorism efforts, the accounts by Pakistanis who have returned to Pakistan after being held at Guantanamo Bay have added to anti-American sentiment in the country.

    Several leading Pakistani military and foreign affairs commentators denounced Hood's selection in recent weeks, calling on their new government to block his appointment.

    It is not clear whether Pakistan's new government requested that the appointment be canceled.

    But Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Sadiq said Thursday that the government was "fully cognizant of the public sentiments and sensitivities regarding the reported transfer of General Hood to Islamabad."

    "We hope to address this matter of public interest in the best possible manner," he added.