US troops burned Taliban corpses

SYDNEY—US troops burned the bodies of two suspected Taliban killed in southern Afghanistan and then broadcast insults to taunt enemy fighters, according to an Australian television report. The troops said they burned the corpses for health reasons after they had been left out in the open for more than 24 hours, according to SBS’s Dateline programme screened late Wednesday.
The burning of the corpses, which contravenes the Geneva Convention, was later used by a psychological operations unit of the US military to insult locals and encourage them to cooperate with coalition troops, it said. The suspected Taliban deaths occurred during an ambush of a US patrol, in which one American and one Afghan army soldier were killed. The clash took place before Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections last month. US officials used the burning of the bodies — a practice offensive to Muslims, who bury their dead within 24 hours — to taunt villagers suspected of harbouring insurgents. The programme showed footage of the burning corpses as US soldiers stood in the background and replayed broadcasts of inflammatory messages sent by US troops to villagers.
“Attention Taliban, you are all cowardly dogs,” one message said. “You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing west and burned. You are too scared to retrieve their bodies. This just proves you are the lady boys we always believed you to be”.
Another stated: “You attack and run away like women. You call yourself Talibs but you are a disgrace to the Muslim religion and you bring shame upon your family. Come and fight like men instead of the cowardly dogs you are”.
The Geneva Convention requires soldiers to dispose of war dead in an honourable fashion and “if possible, according to the rites of the religion to which the deceased belonged”. Deadly riots broke out in Afghanistan earlier this year after US troops were accused of desecrating Islam’s holy book, the Koran.
The US embassy in Canberra issued a statement Thursday saying that the army had launched an investigation into the alleged misconduct described by the programme and that Washington had contacted the Afghan government over the issue.
“These are very serious allegations and, if true, they are very troubling,” the embassy said. “They will be investigated fully and those responsible will be held accountable.” The US did not condone or sanction the “mistreatment of enemy combatants or the desecration of their religious and cultural beliefs,” it said. “We condemn actions by anyone to abuse human remains — even of those who were engaged in violent acts against the United States”.—Agencies