Obama: Probe Alleged Afghan Mass Grave

Prez reacts to report that 2K Taliban POWs were killed
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 12, 2009 5:40 PM CDT
Obama: Probe Alleged Afghan Mass Grave
President Barack Obama waves during his a press conference at the end of the G8 Summit in L'Aquila, Italy, Friday, July 10, 2009.   (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

President Obama has ordered his national security team to investigate reports that US allies were responsible for the deaths of as many as 2,000 Taliban prisoners of war during the opening days of the war in Afghanistan. Obama told CNN in an interview that aired today that he doesn't know what how the US-allied Northern Alliance behaved in November 2001, but he wants a full accounting before deciding how to move forward.

"I think that, you know, there are responsibilities that all nations have even in war," Obama said. "And if it appears that our conduct in some way supported violations of the laws of war ... we have to know about that." The president's comments seem to reverse officials' statements from Friday, when they said they had no grounds to investigate the 2001 deaths of Taliban prisoners of war who human rights groups allege were killed by US-backed forces. (More Afghanistan stories.)

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