KABUL — A 39-second video purporting to show Marines urinating on dead bodies in Afghanistan is straining U.S.-Afghan relations but is not expected to undo months of work aimed at brokering peace with the Taliban.
The images have not sparked widespread anti-U.S. demonstrations, and Afghan officials say one battlefield abuse cannot derail the peace process, which has gained momentum in recent months with news that the Taliban will open a political office in Qatar.
U.S. military officials have condemned the alleged acts of four Marines who appear to be desecrating the bodies of three men lying in the dirt. On the video, which appeared on YouTube on Wednesday, one of the men looks down at the bodies and gleefully quips, “Have a good day, buddy.”
The video emerged at a delicate time in relations among the United States, Afghanistan’s elected government and the Taliban insurgency. The U.S. is trying to foster peace talks between President Hamid Karzai’s government and the Taliban.
Initially there were concerns that outrage over the issue would spiral into a scandal like the one in 2004 over photos showing a group of U.S. military police abusing prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, who has promised an investigation, expressed concern that the fragile peace effort could be jeopardized by the images, which he described as “utterly deplorable.”
“The danger is that this kind of video can be misused in many ways to undermine what we are trying to do in Afghanistan and the possibility of reconciliation,” Panetta said.
But Afghan officials and others said the quick responses by all sides had helped contain the damage.
“As all three sides — the U.S., the Afghan government and the Taliban — have all condemned this act, I’m hopeful that this will not have any effect on the peace process,” Abdul Hakim Mujahid, a member of the peace council and the Taliban’s former envoy to the United Nations, said Saturday.
The Taliban agreed.
“Reconciliation is a big change for the people of Afghanistan, and it won’t be affected by the actions of individuals like those in the video,” Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press on Friday. “We are focused on the bigger picture, and for that, we have to avoid small things.”
Still, the incident makes it harder for U.S.-led coalition troops to gain the trust of Afghan villagers as they try to secure gains on the battlefield, and it gives Karzai more leeway to balk at U.S. demands on critical war issues, including negotiations on the partnership agreement.
