South Asia News
Karzai angry with US for not cooperating in Afghan murder probe
Mar 16, 2012, 18:04 GMT
Kabul - Afghan President Hamid Karzai during a Friday meeting with tribal elders and senior officials expressed anger at the United States for not cooperating in the investigation into the Kandahar killings, a local broadcaster reported.
'In my people's opinion, this was not carried out by one man and was a deliberate and intentional act,' Karzai said, according to commercial broadcaster Ariana TV.
Last week, a US sergeant allegedly left the forward base in a village where he was stationed in Kandahar province and entered nearby Afghan homes, where he opened fire, killing at least 16 civilians.
'We want this relationship with the world in a way in which Afghanistan's honor and children are protected,' the president said.
Karzai said that his government-appointed investigation team had not received any cooperation from the US forces in Afghanistan, asking the American soldiers for answers.
Karzai was meeting with a number of the elders of Panjwai district, where the US rogue soldier went on a rampage on Sunday, and his senior security officials.
The killings by the US soldier have caused public outrage in the country, while the parliament has said patience with foreign troops is exhausted, and the level of anger rose even higher when the soldier was flown outside Afghanistan on Thursday.
Hajji Abdul Samad, a tribal elder from Panjwai district who was in the meeting with Afghan president said that they do not want money for the killings committed by American soldiers.
'We want them to be tried in Afghanistan, not in any other country,' he said.
'How is it possible that one person is involved in the killing of civilians,' another tribal elder asked the president.
In recent weeks, the US has made many mistakes in Afghanistan giving rise to severe public outrage.
Last month, the burning of copies of the Koran by US soldiers at an army base prompted violent protests that left more than 30 Afghans dead. Before that, an undated video surfaced in January that showed US soldiers urinating on dead militants.
On Thursday, Karzai in a meeting with US Defence Secretary said that the international troops have to hand over all security responsibilities to Afghan forces by 2013, a year before NATO scheduled for transition of security.
The Taliban militants, who have been waging a bloody war against international troops in the country, also suspended talks with the US government that they had begun earlier this year.
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