Friday, March 16, 2012

Afghan massacre: Relatives berate President Karzai

President Karzai: "This behaviour cannot be tolerated"
Relatives of 16 Afghan civilians killed by a US soldier on Sunday have demanded answers from President Hamid Karzai.
"We don't care about money we want justice," one villager from Kandahar province told him in Kabul.
Some of the villagers also said there had been more than one gunman, a claim that has repeatedly contradicted the official version since Sunday.
The soldier accused of the killings has been flown out of Afghanistan and is expected to face trial in the US.
Meanwhile, a Nato helicopter carrying Turkish troops has crashed into a house on the outskirts of the capital Kabul, killing at least 12 soldiers and two children on the ground.
The death toll is the heaviest single loss of life so far for Turkish troops in Afghanistan, of whom there are currently more than 1,800.
Police told the BBC a technical fault was to blame.

Previous tension points

  • February 2012: Violent protests erupt after US troops inadvertently burn copies of the Koran at Bagram air base in Kabul. At least 30 are killed
  • January 2012: US and UN officials describe a video clip of US marines urinating on dead Afghans as "disgusting" and "inhuman"
  • April 2011: US President Barack Obama describes March 2011 Koran burning by a radical US pastor as "intolerance and bigotry". The incident triggered protests which left at least 24 people dead in Afghanistan
  • April 2008: Dutch and Danish governments evacuate their embassies in Kabul after protests against cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad which was reprinted by Danish newspapers
Sunday's shootings have placed new strains on the US in Afghanistan.
The Taliban called off peace talks in the wake of the deadly rampage - in which men, women and children were shot and killed at close range - although they made no mention of the massacre in the statement.
However, the US later stressed it remained committed to Afghan reconciliation despite the move by the Taliban.
Mr Karzai has also told the US that it must pull back its troops from village areas and allow Afghan security forces to take the lead, in an effort to reduce civilian deaths.
'No answers'
President Karzai listened as surviving family members from the Kandahar massacre gave their versions of the murders during a meeting in a grand hall in the presidential palace.
Some said only one killer had been involved, others that many US soldiers had carried out the attack in the early hours of Sunday. The dead included nine children.
"Why did this happen?" demanded one man who lost nine members of his family. "Do you have answers, Mr President?"
"No, I do not," responded a tired-looking Mr Karzai.
Lawyer John Henry Browne: "We don't know anything about our client's state of mind"
The president described US co-operation over the massacre as poor, reports say.
He also told villagers he would take up their claims that more than one soldier had killed the villagers.
The soldier accused of the killings is at a US base in Kuwait and is expected to be taken to the US, possibly on Friday.
Afghans had demanded he face justice in their country.
Earlier some of the first details about him emerged.
US lawyer John Henry Browne said the soldier - who has not been named - had received body and brain injuries while serving in Iraq and was unhappy about going for another tour of duty.
Speaking in Seattle, where the accused soldier is based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Mr Browne denied reports that the accused had problems either with alcohol or his marriage.

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