KABUL, 22 October 2005 — Afghan President Hamid Karzai voiced his condemnation yesterday after the release of television images appearing to show US soldiers burning the corpses of two Taleban fighters in Afghanistan, and called for a quick inquiry. The US military — already under fire for the handling of Afghan detainees and desecration of the Qur’an in Guantanamo Bay, which provoked angry protests in Afghanistan — has ordered an inquiry into the footage shown on Australian television.

“We in Afghanistan, in accordance with our religion and traditions and adherence to international law, are very unhappy and condemn the burning of two Taleban dead bodies,” Karzai said. “We do not like such incidents and I hope such incidents will not occur again,” he told reporters at the presidential palace. The footage was shot by an Australian network in the southern province of Kandahar, the former bastion of the Taleban.

The television report quoted the US soldiers as saying they burned the bodies for hygienic reasons. But the act could be deeply offensive to Muslims, whose faith prohibits cremation and demands respect for the dead. The burning also contravenes the Geneva Convention.

After the burning, according to the TV report, a US psychological operations unit broadcast a propaganda message on loudspeakers to a nearby village thought to harbor Taleban fighters, taunting them to retrieve their dead and fight. Calling for “effective and quick” investigations, Karzai said the US military should share the results of its probe with the Afghan government.

The broadcast showed flames on two charred corpses, their legs and arms outstretched, and a group of five US soldiers watching from a rocky ledge. The footage showed PsyOps specialist Sgt. Jim Baker broadcasting an inflammatory message over the loudspeakers.

“Attention, Taleban, you are all cowardly dogs. You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing west and burned. You are too scared to come down and retrieve their bodies. This just proves you are the lady boys we always believed you to be.”

Abdul Hai Mutmaen, the Taleban’s chief spokesman, urged Islamic countries to show a united reaction to the incident and challenged right groups over their silence. “Where are the human right groups?” he asked. “Why are they not raising their voice about this brutality? We call upon all of the Islamic countries to come up with a united reaction on this,” he told Reuters by satellite phone from an undisclosed location.

Karzai said Afghanistan was grateful for the international community’s assistance in defending the country against insurgents and helping with reconstruction. “We still demand that an investigation into this violation be carried out very effectively and very quickly,” he said.

On Thursday, the United States said that the burning of the dead bodies was troubling and vowed to punish those responsible. “From our point of view, these are very serious allegations — and if true — very troublesome,” US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

The military said the treatment of the bodies was inconsistent with US policy and the Geneva Convention. “That investigation will follow the facts wherever they may lead. And if there is, in fact, wrongdoing that was found, then those who are responsible for that wrongdoing will be held to account,” McCormack said.

US Central Command said the Australian broadcast will prompt a review of policies and procedures and that it “does not represent the values and beliefs of this command, therefore necessitating a procedural and policy review”.

Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya, Combined Joint Task Force-76 commander, said in a statement that the command took the allegations of misconduct “seriously”.