U.S. Soldiers Allegedly Urinating on Taliban in New Video

A video that allegedly shows four Marines urinating on three dead Taliban fighters is threatening to throw an already fragile situation in Afghanistan off balance. NATO and American officials condemned the video, and Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta said, “I find the behavior utterly deplorable.” Marine Corps Cmdr. Gen. John Allen has been ordered to begin an immediate investigation into the incident. Meanwhile a Taliban spokesman said the discovery would not derail peace negotiations between the United States and the Taliban in the country. But President Hamid Karzai called the video “completely inhumane,” and tensions are growing between U.S. and Afghan leaders over a timetable for transferring control of law enforcement duties in the country. Recently, U.S. military personnel were accused of abusing prisoners at Bagram Air Base—recalling incidents at Abu Ghraib in Iraq.