Pentagon condemns L.A. Times photos of U.S. troops posing with dead Afghan insurgents The 18 photographs were taken in 2010 in Zabul province by soldiers from the 82nd Airborne's 4th Brigade Combat Team, the newspaper reported. Although the pictures were dated, the fresh disclosure of misbehavior extends a string of recent incidents in which U.S. troops have disrespected the dead, allegedly killed Afghan civilians and desecrated the Koran. U.S. officials, concerned that the cumulative impact will further alienate an Afghan public already weary of foreign military occupation, swiftly disavowed the actions depicted in the photographs and said they had already launched investigations. Marine Gen. John R. Allen, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, said the soldiers" behavior was "entirely inconsistent with the values" of the U.S.-led international coalition in Afghanistan. In Brussels, where defense ministers from NATO countries were meeting to discuss the progress of the war, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta apologized and said he "strongly condemns" the soldiers" actions. "This is war, and I know war is ugly, and is violent," Panetta said at a news conference. I know young people sometimes caught up in the moment make some very foolish decisions. "I am not excusing that behavior," he added. The photographs mark the latest case involving troop misconduct. In January, a video posted on the Internet showed four Marines laughing as they urinated on the corpses of three insurgent fighters. In 2010, members of an Army combat brigade from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state photographed themselves posing with corpses of Afghan civilians who were gunned down by a self-proclaimed "kill team" of soldiers. In that case, the Army confiscated hundreds of photographs and successfully kept them out of the public domain for months, although some were later published by Rolling Stone magazine and Der Spiegel, a German publication. Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.), the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said the problems underscored the need to transfer responsibility for security to Afghan forces as quickly as possible. "Our presence by its very nature creates tension between us and the local population," Smith said in an interview Wednesday. Past a certain point, a foreign presence is as destabilizing as it is stabilizing, and that's what these incidents are pointing out. On Wednesday, the Pentagon said it "strongly rejects" the actions depicted in the latest batch of photographs, calling the behavior "inhuman." It also criticized the Los Angeles Times for publishing them.