Taliban: Urine video will not prevent talks

The Taliban today said a video showing US Marines urinating on the corpses of dead Afghans will not derail any peace talks.

Both the White House and Taliban leaders have signalled that they are now keen to begin negotiations while committing to a continuing military campaign in the interim.

A spokesman for the insurgent group said: "The video will not harm our talks and prisoner exchange because they are at the preliminary stage."

The clip, posted on YouTube, caused outrage across the world. Last night the Pentagon said two of the four soldiers had been identified and interviewed.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the men seen in the video, describing their actions
as "inhuman" and calling for an investigation.

US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta telephoned Mr Karzai to denounce the soldiers' behaviour as "deplorable" and to promise that it would be investigated immediately. General Martin Dempsey, the top US military officer, said actions depicted in the video were illegal.

If found guilty, the Marines could face a court martial or other disciplinary action. News of the footage has yet to spread widely in Afghanistan,
a country where only a small minority has access to electricity and the internet is limited to a
tiny urban elite.