December 23, 2001	Sunday	Shawwal 7, 1422

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KABUL, Dec 22: The Afghan government sworn in on Saturday is considering setting up a special commission to investigate war crimes in the country, its leader Hamid Karzai told a news conference.

“I have had discussions with my colleagues (on the subject), it is not a bad idea,” he said.

But he could not give a timetable for any proposed commission nor would he elaborate on what it would investigate.

There have been several calls from Afghan groups for an inquiry into the acts of the Taliban regime which fled Kabul on Nov 12 and the Mujahideen government which ruled before that.

Besides, Mr Karzai brushed aside controversy over the deaths of 65 people in a United States airstrike on a convoy in the country’s east.

Despite lingering questions over the circumstances of the attack, Mr Karzai was clearly not in the mood to discuss the incident at his first press conference after being sworn in.

At first he denied that anything had happened at all, saying that a representative from Paktia had come to see him on Friday and was supposed to see him again on Saturday.

Informed that US officials had actually confirmed the incident but had claimed fleeing Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders had been in the cars, Mr Karzai then said: “We are going to speak to our American friends.—APP/AFP