Afghan returns,finds 11 of family dead

But when Samad,60,walked into his mud-walled dwelling here on Sunday morning and found 11 of his relatives sprawled in all directions,shot in the head,stabbed and burned,he learned the culprit was not a Taliban insurgent. The shooting suspect was a 38-year-old US staff sergeant.

The US soldier is accused of killing 16 people in all in a bloody rampage that has further tarnished Afghan-American relations and devastated Samad,a respected village elder whose tired eyes poured forth tears one minute and glared ahead in anger the next.

Once a believer in the offensive against the Taliban,he is now insistent that the Americans get out. “I don’t know why they killed them,” said Samad,a short,feeble man with a white beard and white turban,as he struggled in an interview to come to terms with the loss of his wife,four daughters between the ages of 2 and 6,four sons between 8 and 12,and two other relatives.

“Our government told us to come back to the village,and then they let the Americans kill us,” Samad said outside the military base,known as Camp Belambay,with outraged villagers who came to support him. They transported the bodies of Samad’s family members,as well as the other victims,and the burned blankets that had covered them as proof of the awful crime that had occurred.

After years of war,Samad,a poor farmer,had been reluctant to return to his home in Panjwai,which was known in good times for its grapes and mulberries.

For Samad,he said he was in too much despair to even think about how he would carry on with his life. But he said the lesson of the deadly shootings was clear: the Americans should leave. Karzai called Samad on Sunday after the killings,and Samad,barefoot as he spoke plaintively into a satellite phone with district officials gathered around,told the president: “Either finish us or get rid of the Americans.” “We made you president,and what happens to our family?” he told Karzai. “The Americans kill us and then burn the dead bodies.”