Footage showing American soldiers urinating on dead Afghan bodies has sparked outrage across the world - with Afghanistan's leaders labelling it as a 'recruitment tool for the Taliban'.
The 'disgusting' and 'highly reprehensible' 40-second clip shows four men in combat gear standing over the three corpses with their genitals exposed as they relieve themselves.
The men can be heard joking 'Have a great day, buddy', 'Golden like a shower' and 'Yeahhhh!' as they groan with relief whilst urinating.
It has sparked anger from Afghans, with top negotiator from President Hamid Karzai's High Peace Council Arsala Rahmani, saying it will have a 'very, very bad impact on peace efforts'.He added: 'Looking at such action, the Taliban can easily recruit young people and tell them that their country has been attacked by Christians and Jews and they must defend it.'
It is not clear if the corpses belong to civilians or insurgents engaged in combat, although the film does appear to have been shot in Afghanistan.
The anonymous person who posted it included the caption: 'Scout sniper team 4 with 3rd battalion 2nd marines out of camp lejeune peeing on dead talibans.'The film is likely to spark a huge diplomatic row between Washington and Kabul and rekindle memories of the abuse meted out by American troops at Abu Ghraib in Iraq.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan described the acts as 'highly reprehensible and disgusting'.
ISAF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings said: 'The behaviour depicted in this video is reprehensible and is not in keeping with the values of U.S. Armed Forces.'Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain John Kirby said the video was deeply troubling: 'Whoever it is, and whatever the circumstances, which we know is under investigation, it is egregious behaviour.'
And the Council on Islamic-American Relations, a prominent Muslim civil rights and advocacy group based in Washington, also quickly condemned the video.
The group wrote in a letter faxed to Defence Secretary Leon Panetta: 'We condemn this apparent desecration of the dead as a violation of our nation's military regulations and of international laws of war prohibiting such disgusting and immoral actions.
'If verified as authentic, the video shows behaviour that is totally unbecoming of American military personnel and that could ultimately endanger other soldiers and civilians.'
<<Print>>