President Hamid Karzai on Friday again lashed out at the United States over a massacre of 16 Afghan civilians blamed on an American sergeant, heightening public tensions between the two countries.
His comments underscored deep anger in the war-torn nation, one day after he said international forces should leave villages, potentially jeopardising NATO operations two years before combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan.
"The Afghan government didn't receive cooperation from the USA regarding the surrender of the US soldiers to the Afghan government. This (civilian casualties) has been going on for too long," Karzai told reporters.
"This is by all means the end of the rope here," added Karzai, who has long called for an end to US raids on Afghan homes and who came under pressure Friday from relatives to take corrective action.
"This behaviour can't be tolerated. We have not asked for money. We ask for justice rather than compensation," he added.
But amid the angry words, President Barack Obama and Karzai reaffirmed that US troops would leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014, despite calls for an earlier withdrawal.
In a phone conversation between the leaders Friday, Obama agreed to resolve Karzai's concerns over night raids as the two said they would discuss complaints about NATO troops in villages.
Afghan leaders had demanded that the shooting suspect face a public trial in Afghanistan over the killings -- mainly of women and children -- in the southern province of Kandahar as villagers slept before dawn on Sunday.
But the 38-year-old decorated soldier was instead flown to Kuwait this week and on Friday was en route to a maximum security detention centre at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, a first step towards being charged.
The suspect's attorney, John Henry Browne, stressed that the US Army sergeant had been upset by a serious injury sustained by a comrade the day before the massacre, but held no animosity toward Muslims.
The Seattle-based Browne told CNN that he talked by phone with his client who sounded unclear of some facts in the case, leading the lawyer to say he was "concerned about his state of mind."
A US official, who requested anonymity, said: "Investigators have reason to believe that alcohol may have been a factor in this tragic incident."
Karzai met 20 to 30 relatives of the victims at his palace on Friday, where representatives suggested more American soldiers were involved in the massacre in two villages, but provided no details to support their claim.
"How do they dare kill our children while they come to our country for the sake of service? We don't want money and we want justice and we want them to be tried in Afghanistan," said Haji Abdul Samad, an elder from Panjwayi district.
"We want the government to take practical steps to stop such actions."
Haji Abdul Saboor, another elder from Panjwayi district, said it was an "absolute lie" that only one American soldier was responsible.
Sunday's killings were the latest in a series of incidents involving American soldiers that have badly affected already fragile Afghan-US relations as the United States prepares to withdraw combat troops by the end of 2014.
A video released this year showed Americans urinating on Taliban corpses and in mid-February, copies of the Koran were burnt on a US military base, sparking riots that left at least 40 people dead.
Karzai's office said he told US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday that international forces should leave villages and be "relocated in their bases" and that Afghanistan is ready to take responsibility for security.
Karzai gave no timeline other than saying NATO should hand over to Afghan forces in 2013 and US officials went into damage-limitation mode, saying Karzai's statement was "consistent" with an agreed timetable.
Panetta and NATO allies said last month that they hoped Afghan forces can take the lead in 2013, leaving foreign troops in a backup role before the bulk of combat forces withdraw in 2014.
In Afghanistan, reactions were split between those who believe local security forces would do a better job and those swayed by a weight of evidence that they are not yet capable of taking over.
Shinkai Karokhel, an MP from Kabul said she was appalled by what she called an "emotional" outburst from Karzai fuelled by anger over Sunday's killings.
"Afghan security forces are not capable of maintaining security in the villages and districts of the country where the Taliban hold strong sway," she told AFP.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-soldier-upset-comrades-injury-rampage-074315700.html
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