Photos risk igniting U.S., Afghan tensions

KABUL, Afghanistan — The release of explicit photographs of U.S. soldiers apparently engaged in atrocities against Afghan civilians threatens to ignite tensions between the Afghan and U.S. governments and provide fodder for the Taliban’s efforts to convince Afghans that the foreign troops fighting here are a malevolent force.

NATO officials and Western diplomats here have been steeling themselves for the release, worried it will further undermine relations with President Hamid Karzai at a sensitive time when there have been several recent episodes of civilian casualties.

Three photographs, published in the German magazine Der Spiegel, show members of the self-designated “Kill Team” comprising U.S. Army soldiers who are accused of making a sport of killing innocent Afghans as they show off one of their victims in a kind of trophy photo; another photo shows two civilians who appear to be dead.

Five of the soldiers accused of being involved in the killings, who were from the 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, now are facing court-martial proceedings for the deaths of three unarmed Afghan civilians. Seven other members of the unit are accused of lesser crimes.

The men are accused of faking combat situations to justify killing randomly chosen Afghans with grenades and guns. The case came to light after one of the soldiers informed military investigators.

The pictures bring to mind those of the torture and humiliation of Iraqis at the hands of U.S. troops at the Abu Ghraib prison, which came to light in spring 2004.