It’s clear that sixteen unarmed Afghan civilians, nine of whom were children, were murdered recently but what is unclear is whether it was done by one U.S. solider acting alone, as U.S. sources are claiming, or by multiple U.S. soldiers, as Afghan witnesses and the Afghan president is declaring. American officials have stated that a single U.S. solider acted alone and then surrendered. President Hamid Karzai could not help but disagree after hearing one villager’s story. Karzai described this villager’s account of the night, “In his family, in four rooms people were killed –children and women were killed‐and then they were all brought together in one room and then set on fire. That, one man cannot do.” Karzai sent officials to investigate the case further but he said he did not receive the cooperation from the United State that he had hoped for. U.S. military did not respond to President Karzai’s statement. The incident has added more stress to the discussion of removing U.S. troops; Karzai suggested that the official NATO withdrawal by the end of 2014 was not soon enough.
Title: More than one US soldier involved in massacre: Afghan President
Publication: Al Akhbar English
Date of Publication: March 16, 2012
URL: http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/multiple-soldiers-involved-killing-afghan-civilians-afghan-president
Student Researcher: Annie Keating, College of Marin
Faculty Evaluator: Susan Rahman, College of Marin