Karzai accuses US of not fully co-operating with probe into Kandahar
massacre
17 Mar, BELLE NEWS
Afghan President Hamid Karzai accuses the US of not fully
co-operating with a probe into the Kandahar massacre of 16 civilians by
an American soldier.
The US soldier accused of the Kandahar massacre is on his way to the
US from Kuwait, where he was being held, and is expected to face a
military tribunal there.
Afghan MP’s had demanded the soldier be tried in public in
Afghanistan.On Wednesday Hamid Karzai 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 such civilian deaths.
The Taliban also called off peace talks in the wake of the killings
although they made no mention of the massacre in their statement.
Earlier, the president met relatives of those who had been killed
last Sunday. The assembled villagers berated him and urged him to seek
justice.
Some of the villagers believe there was more than one gunman, an
allegation that has repeatedly contradicted the official version since
Sunday when the shootings took place. He assured villagers that he would
pursue that allegation.
Hamid 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. “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 Hamid Karzai.
The president’s strong public condemnation of his most important ally
is certain to frustrate the US which has been trying to limit the damage
from these latest incidents as they deal with an unpredictable
president.
Some details about the alleged killer also emerged from John Henry
Browne, the lawyer who said he represented him.
John Henry Browne said the soldier – who has not been named – had
received body and brain injuries while serving in Iraq and had been
unhappy about doing another tour of duty.
Speaking in Seattle, where the accused soldier is based at Joint Base
Lewis-McChord, John Henry Browne denied reports that the accused had
problems either with alcohol or his marriage.
Earlier on Friday, a NATO helicopter carrying Turkish troops 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.
Despite the recent string of setbacks, such as the suspension of
peace talks by the Taliban, the US has stressed that it remains
committed to Afghan reconciliation.
Men, women and children were shot and killed at close range as the US
soldier apparently went on a rampage in villages close to a NATO base in
the remote Panjwai district of southern Kandahar province.
Hamid Karzai told reporters that the chief of the official
investigation into those killings had not received the co-operation it
expected from the US.
He also said the problem of civilian casualties at the hands of NATO
forces had “gone on for too long”“This is by all means the end of the
rope here,” Hamid Karzai said. |