US President Barack Obama said in an interview to be aired Monday that he has ordered a probe into attempts to quash an investigation into the mass execution of Taliban prisoners in Afghanistan. The New York Times reported Friday that top officials from the previous administration of president George W. Bush discouraged separate probes by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the State Department and the Pentagon.
They wanted to hush up the killing of up to 2,000 prisoners in 2001 because it was carried out by the forces of General Abdul Rashid Dostam, an Afghan warlord then on the Central Intelligence Agency”s payroll, it said.
"The indications that this had not been properly investigated just recently was brought to my attention," Obama told CNN television during his visit to Ghana over the weekend.
"So what I”ve asked my national security team to do is to collect the facts for me that are known, and we”ll probably make a decision in terms of how to approach it once we have all of the facts gathered up," Obama said, according to excerpts released by CNN.
"I think that, you know, there are responsibilities that all nations have, even in war," Obama told CNN.
