WASHINGTON: The commander of US-led forces in Afghanistan, General John Allen, Monday vowed he would hold accountable anyone involved in the rampage by a rogue soldier who killed 16 Afghan villagers.
"Yes, this is a tragedy. Yes, we'll hold an investigation and we'll hold people accountable," Allen told CNN, adding Sunday's killings appeared to have been an "isolated act."
"The evidence at this point, both in terms of observations and reports and interviews, leads us to believe that he acted as an individual at this point," Allen said.
US forces under his command would lead the inquiry into Sunday's killings in which 16 people including women and children died, he said.
Allen revealed as well that the sergeant's disappearance from his base in southern Kandahar province had been noticed almost at once.
"He was detected. In fact, an Afghan soldier detected his departure. And reported it," Allen said, adding a head count was done right away and it was realized the soldier was missing.
"We put together a search party right away and it was as that search party was forming that we began to have indications of the outcome of his departure."
He refused to name the soldier who is under arrest to protect the investigation, but confirmed that he had been part of a village stability operation providing support to the Afghan police.
Allen also confirmed that the soldier had done three tours of duty in Iraq and was on his first tour in Afghanistan. Issues such as whether he had been suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome or any kind of mental illness would form part of the inquiry, he added.
Allen vowed to "keep the Afghan government informed throughout this investigation. We'll keep the Afghan government informed throughout the process of adjudicating the outcome."
But he confirmed that despite calls from Afghan lawmakers for the sergeant to be handed over for trial in Afghanistan "this individual will be investigated and the outcome will be in accordance with US law."
Allen stressed however, that "we are close partners with the Afghans. And while these kinds of regrettable incidents will occur on both sides, we should look at the overall relationship."
"This relationship is too deep. It has been going on too long and we've all sacrificed too much, for us to permit this to be the single event that unhorses this relationship."
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