Video of 'urinating US soldiers' won't stop talks: Taliban

KABUL - Agence France-Presse

REUTERS photo

An online video apparently showing US Marines urinating on the bloodied corpses of slain Afghan insurgents will not affect peace talks, a Taliban spokesman said Thursday.
 
"I don't think this new issue will affect negotiations which at this stage are mainly about prisoner exchange," spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed told AFP.

The Afghan Taliban Thursday had denounced as "barbaric" a video apparently showing US Marines urinating on dead Taliban fighters.

"This is a barbaric act. Over the past 10 years there have been hundreds of similar cases that were not revealed," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed told AFP.

ISAF denounces 'deplorable act'

ISAF today denounced the acts of the four U.S. servicemen in a statement it posted on the ISAF official website. The statement read: 

"A video recently posted on a public website appears to show U.S. military personnel committing an inappropriate act with enemy corpses. This disrespectful act is inexplicable and not in keeping with the high moral standards we expect of coalition forces.

ISAF strongly condemns the actions depicted in the video, which appear to have been conducted by a small group of U.S. individuals, who apparently are no longer serving in Afghanistan.

Nevertheless, this behavior dishonors the sacrifices and core values of every service member representing the fifty nations of the coalition.

Therefore, a United States Criminal Investigatory agency has launched an investigation. It will be thorough and any individuals with confirmed involvement will be held fully accountable."
 
The U.S. military said today it was investigating a "disgusting" online video purportedly showing Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.
 
The video shows what appears to be four servicemen, dressed in US military uniform, relieving themselves onto three bloodied bodies on the ground, apparently aware that they are being filmed.
 
"Have a great day, buddy," one of them says, giggling.
 
The Pentagon has not yet verified the video, but spokesman John Kirby told AFP: "Regardless of the circumstances or who is in the video, this is... egregious, disgusting behavior, unacceptable for anyone in uniform." "It turned my stomach," he added of the video, which was posted on the Live Leak website.
 
If authenticated, the images -- which conjure up previous abuses committed by U.S. troops during the decade-long war -- could spark deep anger and resentment in Afghanistan and the wider Muslim world.