“It’s not who we are as a country, and it does not represent our military,” Obama said yesterday at the White House. Anyone involved must be held “fully accountable with the full force of the law.”
The killings may complicate U.S.-Afghan talks on terms by which some U.S. forces might remain there after 2014. Tensions rose, and riots erupted, after the burning of Korans in a trash dump at a U.S. base last month. The killings also may drain remaining U.S. and European support for the war and add pressure to speed troop withdrawals.