US corpse abuse pictures fuel anger, Nato exit

Pictures of US troops abusing corpses, on top of a series of outrages this year, have fuelled anti-US anger in Afghanistan, with the president calling on Thursday for an early exit of foreign forces.

"The only way to put an end to such painful experiences is through an accelerated and full transition of security responsibilities to Afghan forces," his office said in a statement.

Nato has some 130,000 US-led troops helping Karzai's government fight a Taliban insurgency, but they are progressively handing over to Afghan forces ahead of a scheduled pull out by the end of 2014.

Updated plans for the withdrawal will be discussed at a Nato summit in Chicago next month, with polls showing Karzai's call for an early exit is shared by citizens of troop-contributing nations.

In moves unlikely to go down well with his allies, Karzai has already accused Nato this week of failures that allowed the Taliban to launch major attacks in Kabul and has demanded the US "write down" that it will commit at least $2 billion a year to Afghanistan's security after 2014.

On Thursday he condemned the pictures of US troops as "inhumane and provocative", noting similar incidents in the past had sparked an angry reaction by Afghans.

Pictures published by the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday showed US soldiers posing with the remains of Taliban insurgents, one of them with a man's hand draped over his shoulder.

"It is such a disgusting act to take photos with body parts and then share it with others," Karzai said.

The Taliban were also quick to condemn the photographs of US soldiers posing with the body parts of militants, calling the two-year-old pictures "inhuman" and vowing revenge.

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said those responsible would be punished but voiced "regret" that the LA Times had decided to publish the images against his wishes, warning they could prompt a violent backlash.

But the biggest victim of the latest scandal is likely to be support for the Nato troops in their own countries.

"In the West there was this strong idea that of course the troops came to fight terrorism but also came to help and to rebuild the country," said Martine van Bijlert of the Afghan Analysts' Network.

"Incidents like this will feed into feelings at home of 'What are we doing here?'," she told AFP.

But an immediate violent response by ordinary Afghans was seen as unlikely.

"We have had too many of these incidents recently where there's been questions about US troops' morality and ethics... but it doesn't necessarily mean we will see riots on the streets," said Candace Rondeaux of the International Crisis Group.

"However, time will tell -- I think we have to wait until after Friday prayers to really see what kind of impact these images have had," she said, referring to the time of the week when citizens pour out of mosques. "

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.