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Military Investigates Afghanistan Burning Incident

20 October 2005

Military and legal action to be taken if charge is substantiated

Washington -- The Combined Forces Command in Afghanistan is investigating allegations of misconduct by U.S. forces in that country and says unequivocally that it does not condone the violation of Muslim religious beliefs including the mistreatment of the remains of hostile Taliban forces.

Army Major General Jason Kamiya said October 20 that an investigation has been launched following the allegation that some U.S. Special Forces operating in Afghanistan as part of “Operation Enduring Freedom” burned the bodies of two dead Taliban fighters.

Kamiya, the commander of the Combined Joint Task Force-76, said all allegations of misconduct or inappropriate behavior by forces under his command are taken seriously.  And if the charges are substantiated, Kamiya said, action will be taken according to the U.S. Uniform Code of Military Justice.

The allegation surfaced after an Australian television journalist said he had witnessed American soldiers positioning the bodies of the Taliban men, who died in a firefight the previous night near the village of Gonbaz, out in the open facing Mecca and taunting other Taliban soldiers to come out of the mountains to collect the charred bodies.  The film footage aired subsequently in Australia as part of a Dateline broadcast.

In an October 20 press release from his command at Bagram Airfield, Kamiya said any action such as that described by the Australian broadcast “is repugnant to our common values … our command’s approved tactical operating procedures, and is not sanctioned by this command.”  U.S. military personnel, he said, are expected to abide by the highest standards of behavior and according to the law.

U.S. Central Command, based at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, also issued a statement saying that it does not condone any desecration, abuse or inappropriate treatment of enemy combatants.  Such action would be contrary to both U.S. policy and the Geneva Conventions, according to the October 19 release.

For more information about U.S. policy, see International Security.

For information about Afghanistan, see Rebuilding Afghanistan.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)