CAIRO: In a statement on Friday, Al-Azhar, Egypt's leading Sunni Islamic authority, condemned an incident in which American forces in Afghanistan urinated on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters. A video emerged online last week showing four American Marines urinating on the bodies of three dead Taliban fighters, laughing and making crude jokes about the men. “This is a flagrant violation of the sanctity of the Afghani martyrs, and it is shocking to the most basic principles of human civilization,” an Al-Azhar senior adviser told Reuters. “This shows the emptiness and the absence of the values of the civilization that those aggressors belong to,” he continued. The video has sparked outrage both in Afghanistan and internationally. Afghan President Hamid Karzai called the video “inhuman.” “The Government of Afghanistan is deeply disturbed by a video that shows American soldiers desecrating dead bodies of three Afghans,” said Karzai in a statement on Thursday. “This act by American soldiers is simply inhuman and condemnable in the strongest possible terms. We expressly ask the U.S. government to urgently investigate the video and apply the most severe punishment to anyone found guilty in this crime.” U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta called Karzai on Thursday, expressing his condemnation for the incident. The United States military has vowed to investigate the incident, and the Marine Corps is taking legal action against the four men. Taliban officials reported that the incident would not have an effect on ongoing peace negotiations with the US. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/whwlE Tags: Afghanistan, Al Azhar, featured, Karzai Section: Egypt, Latest News
