US soldiers keep watch at the entrance of a military base near Alkozai village following the shooting of Afghan civilians allegedly committed by a rogue US soldier in Panjwayi district, Kandahar province on March 11, 2012. An AFP reporter counted 16 bodies -- including women and children -- in three Afghan houses after a rogue US soldier walked out of his base and began shooting civilians early Sunday. NATO's International Security Assistance Force said it had arrested a soldier 'in connection to an incident that resulted in Afghan casualties in Kandahar province', without giving a figure for the dead or wounded. (JANGIR/AFP/Getty Images)
Anar Gul gestures to the body of her grandchild, who was allegedly killed by a U.S. service member in Panjwai, Kandahar province south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, March. 11, 2012. Afghan President Hamid Karzai says a U.S. service member has killed more than a dozen people in a shooting including nine children and three women. Karzai called the attack Sunday "an assassination" and demanded an explanation from the United States. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)
MIRWAIS KHAN and SEBASTIAN ABBOT 03/12/12 02:00 PM ET
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — A young Afghan man recounted on Monday the harrowing scene in his home as a lone U.S. soldier moved stealthily through it during a killing spree, then crouched down and shot his father in the thigh as he emerged from the bedroom in the deep of night.
The soldier, now in U.S. custody, is accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians in their homes overnight between Saturday and Sunday and then burning some of their corpses. Afghan President Hamid Karzai said nine of those killed were children and three were women.
"He was walking around taking up positions in the house – in two or three places like he was searching," said 26-year-old witness Mohammad Zahir, who watched the gunman while hiding in another room. "He was on his knees when he shot my father" in the thigh, he told The Associated Press. His father was wounded but survived.
Even before the shootings, anti-Americanism was already boiling in Afghanistan over U.S. troops burning Muslim holy books, including Qurans, last month on an American base. The burnings came to light soon after a video purporting to show four Marines urinating on Taliban corpses was posted on the Internet in January.
Now, another wave of anti-foreigner hatred could threaten the entire future of the U.S.-led coalition's mission in Afghanistan. The recent events have not only infuriated the Afghan people and leaders, but have also raised doubts among U.S. political figures that the long and costly war is worth the sacrifice in lives and money.
NATO and member countries said the slayings are a blow to the alliance's efforts to cultivate trust, but that it will not affect the timeline to hand over security operations by the end of 2014. The White House said U.S. objectives in Afghanistan will not change because of the killings.
Zahir described the scene that unfolded when the assailant came to his house before dawn.
"I heard a gunshot. When I came out of my room, somebody entered our house. He was in a NATO forces uniform. I didn't see his face because it was dark," he said.
Zahir said he quickly went into another room in the house, where animals are penned.
"He was not holding anything – not even a cup of tea," Zahir said. Then he fired.
"My mother was pulling my father into the room. I put a cloth on his wound," he said.
After the gunman left, Zahir said he heard gunshots near the house again. He stayed in hiding for a few minutes to make sure he was gone.
The motives of the shooter and most details about him, including his name, are still not known.
The suspect, who has been placed in pretrial confinement in Kandahar, is an Army staff sergeant who has been in the military for 11 years. The soldier, who is married with two children, served three tours in Iraq. He began his first deployment to Afghanistan in December, according to a Congressional source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The soldier with the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. The soldier's unit was attached on Feb. 1 to Camp Belambai, home to a village stability force, the Congressional source said. The village stability units pair special operations troops with villagers chosen by community elders to become essentially a sanctioned armed neighborhood watch.
The main responsibility of the soldier was camp security and helping protect the forces stationed at the small combat outpost, said Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings, another spokesman for the coalition. It is not known what type of job he did at the base. The soldier was not assigned to a special operations unit and has no special operations training, Cummings said.
He attacked two small villages very close to his base in southern Kandahar province. An enraged Karzai called it "an assassination, an intentional killing of innocent civilians" that cannot be forgiven. He demanded an explanation from Washington.
Tensions between Afghanistan and the United States rocketed last month after word of the Quran burnings got out. President Barack Obama said the burnings were a mistake and apologized.
But the strains had appeared to be easing as recently as Friday, when the two governments signed a memorandum of understanding about the transfer of Afghan detainees to Afghan control – a key step toward an eventual strategic partnership to govern U.S. forces in the country.
In Afghanistan's parliament on Monday, however, lawmakers called for a halt to negotiations on the strategic partnership document until it is clear that soldier behind the shooting rampage is facing justice in Afghan courts.
"We said to Karzai: If you sign that document, you are betraying your country," said Shikiba Ashimi, a parliamentarian from Kandahar. "The U.S. should be very careful. It is sabotaging the atmosphere of this strategic partnership."
Under the Military Technical Agreement between Afghanistan and the U.S., if legal proceedings have to be carried out regarding any wrongdoing by a service member, it will be handled under U.S. military law.
In London, British Prime Minister David Cameron said that despite the killings, Britain, the United States and their allies must stay the course they have set to return Afghanistan to local control in the next few years.
"One's heart just goes out to those families in Kandahar who have suffered these appalling losses," Cameron said.
The public response to the shootings so far has been calmer than the six days of violent protests and clashes that erupted after Qurans were burned at Bagram Air Field. There were no signs of protests Monday.
Afghan forces also turned their guns on their supposed allies in the aftermath of the Quran burnings, killing six U.S. troops.
The Taliban vowed revenge. It also claimed responsibility for several attacks last month that the group said were retaliation for the Americans burning Qurans.
The al-Qaida-linked militant group said in a statement on their website that "sick-minded American savages" committed the "blood-soaked and inhumane crime" in a rural region that is the cradle of the Taliban and where coalition forces have fought for control for years.
U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan have stepped up security following the shootings out of concern about retaliatory attacks. The U.S. Embassy has also warned American citizens in Afghanistan about the possibility of reprisals. As standard practice, the coalition increased security following the shootings out of concern about retaliatory attacks, said German Brig. Gen. Carsten Jacobson, a coalition spokesman.
Two U.S. defense officials said an investigation has been started by the Army Criminal Investigation Division, but that it was too soon to say when any charges might be filed. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the issue. Army officials are reviewing his complete deployment and medical history, the congressional source said.
There have been varying reports about the distances from the base to the two villages where the shootings occurred.
The Congressional source said one village was about 800 meters (yards) south of the base and the other was about 500 meters north.
The Afghan Defense Ministry said, however, that the gunman left the base in Panjwai district and walked about 1,800 meters (one mile) to Balandi village. Villagers described how they cowered in fear around 3 a.m. as gunshots rang out and the soldier roamed from house to house, firing on those inside. They said he entered three homes in all and set fire to some of the bodies after he killed them.
Eleven of the 12 civilians killed in Balandi were from the same family. The remaining victim was a neighbor.
From Balandi, the gunman walked roughly one mile to the village of Alkozai, which was only about 500 meters from the American military base. There the gunman killed four people in one house and then moved to Zahir's house, where he shot his father in the leg.
U.S. officials said initial reports indicated that the soldier returned to his base after the shootings and turned himself in.
Some Afghan officials and local villagers expressed doubt that a single U.S. soldier could have carried out all the killings and burned the bodies afterward.
"It is not possible for only one American soldier to come out of his base, kill a number of people far away, burn the bodies, go to another house and kill civilians there, then walk at least 2 kilometers and enter another house, kill civilians and burn them," said Abdul Rahim Ayubi, a lawmaker from Kandahar province who visited the area on Monday.
Some villagers also told officials there were multiple soldiers and heard shooting from different directions. But many others said they only saw a single soldier.
NATO insisted there was only one gunman.
"There's no indication that there was more than one shooter," Cummings said.
Agha Lalia, member of the Kandahar provincial council who is from Panjwai district, said he talked to two people who were injured in the shooting at a hospital at Kandahar Air Field, where they are being treated by coalition medical personnel. Both said they only saw one soldier shooting.
The body of an Afghan child, allegedly shot by a rogue US soldier, are seen with other bodies in the back of a truck in Alkozai village of Panjwayi district, Kandahar province on March 11, 2012. An AFP reporter counted 16 bodies -- including women and children -- in three Afghan houses after a rogue US soldier walked out of his base and began shooting civilians early Sunday. NATO's International Security Assistance Force said it had arrested a soldier 'in connection to an incident that resulted in Afghan casualties in Kandahar province', without giving a figure for the dead or wounded. (JANGIR/AFP/Getty Images)
A mourner cries over the bodies of Afghan civilians, allegedly shot by a rogue US soldier, seen loaded into the back of a truck in Alkozai village of Panjwayi district, Kandahar province on March 11, 2012. An AFP reporter counted 16 bodies -- including women and children -- in three Afghan houses after a rogue US soldier walked out of his base and began shooting civilians early Sunday. NATO's International Security Assistance Force said it had arrested a soldier 'in connection to an incident that resulted in Afghan casualties in Kandahar province', without giving a figure for the dead or wounded. (JANGIR/AFP/Getty Images)
An Afghan man sits in the back of a bus with the body of a person who was allegedly killed by a U.S. service member in Panjwai, Kandahar province south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, March 11, 2012. Afghan President Hamid Karzai says a U.S. service member has killed more than a dozen people in a shooting including nine children and three women. Karzai called the attack Sunday "an assassination" and demanded an explanation from the United States. He says several people were also wounded in the attack on two villages near a U.S. base in the southern province of Kandahar. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)