US condemns Afghan urination video as "deeply deplorable"

Jan 12, 2012, 18:43 GMT

Kabul - The United States on Thursday condemned as 'deplorable' a video showing US soldiers urinating on the bodies of what appeared to be Afghan insurgents.

The 39-second video, which appeared on the internet Wednesday, showed at least four US Marines urinating on the bodies at an unknown location in Afghanistan.

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said: 'I have seen the footage, and I find the behaviour depicted in it utterly deplorable. I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.'

Panetta said he had ordered the Marine Corps and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) commander, General John Allen, to investigate the incident.

'This conduct is entirely inappropriate for members of the United States military and does not reflect the standards or values our armed forces are sworn to uphold,' Panetta said.

Speaking by phone from an undisclosed location, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said earlier Thursday that the video was 'an inhuman, immoral and brutal act of the invaders.'

He charged that US soldiers had committed similar 'crimes' since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan and said such incidents would 'only shorten Americans' and their allies' lives here in Afghanistan.'

However, Muhahid also said that preliminary talks on a prisoner exchange and opening a Taliban office in Qatar could continue, but denied that peace talks were being held. The opening of the Qatar office was seen as an effort to jump-start peace negotiations.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed her 'total dismay,' adding that she joined Panetta in 'condemning the deplorable behavior that is reflected in this video.'

'It is absolutely inconsistent with American values, with the standards of behavior that we expect from our military personnel.' She said that anyone found to have participated in the action 'must be held fully accountable.'

The United States remains 'committed to helping build a secure, peaceful, prosperous, democratic future for the people of Afghanistan,' said Clinton.

The coalition said in a statement: 'ISAF strongly condemns the actions depicted in the video, which appear to have been conducted by a small group of US individuals, who apparently are no longer serving in Afghanistan.'

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said his government was deeply disturbed by the video. 'This act by American soldiers is simply inhuman and condemnable in the strongest possible terms,' he said.

'We expressly ask the US government to urgently investigate the video and apply the most severe punishment to anyone found guilty in this crime.'

In another scandal involving US troops in Afghanistan, soldiers who named themselves the 'Kill Team' targeted civilians and killed at least three in the volatile southern province of Kandahar in 2010. The US military has begun prosecutions against five soldiers in the case.

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