US Marine Video Not Likely to Derail Afghan Talks A 39-second video purporting to show Marines urinating on dead bodies in Afghanistan is straining U.S.-Afghan relations but is not expected to undo months of work aimed at brokering peace with the Taliban. The images have not sparked widespread anti-U.S. protests and Afghan officials say one battlefield abuse cannot derail the peace process, which has gained momentum in recent months with news that the Taliban will open a political office in Qatar. U.S. military officials have sternly condemned the alleged acts of four Marines who appear to be desecrating the bodies of three men lying in the dirt. On the video, which appeared on YouTube on Wednesday, one of the men looks down at the bodies and gleefully quips, "Have a good day, buddy." The video emerged at a delicate time in relations among the United States, Afghanistan's elected government and the Taliban insurgency. The U.S. is trying to foster peace talks between President Hamid Karzai's government and the Taliban. Recent statements by senior U.S. and Taliban officials suggest the possibility of some trust-building measures in the near future, such as the opening of the Taliban office and the transfer of some Taliban detainees out of the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Relations with Karzai have been shaky, and the two nations have yet to sign a long-term partnership agreement that will govern the presence of U.S. troops in the country after 2014 when most foreign troops will have gone home or moved into support roles. Initially there were concerns that outrage over the issue would spiral into a scandal like the one in 2004 over the release of photos showing a group of U.S. military police abusing prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Violent protests broke out across Afghanistan after a Florida pastor burned a Quran in March 2011, fueling the down-with-America sentiment already simmering in Afghan society. In one protest in April 2011, thousands of demonstrators poured into the streets of Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan and overran a U.N. compound, killing three U.N. staff members and four Nepalese guards. U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, who has promised an exhaustive investigation, expressed concern that the fragile peace effort could be jeopardized by the images that he described as "utterly deplorable." "The danger is that this kind of video can be misused in many ways to undermine what we are trying to do in Afghanistan and the possibility of reconciliation," Panetta said. But Afghan officials and others said the quick responses by all sides had helped contain the damage. "As all three sides - the U.S., the Afghan government and the Taliban - have all condemned this act, I'm hopeful that this will not have any effect on the peace process," Abdul Hakim Mujahid, a member of the peace council and the Taliban's former envoy to the United Nations, said Saturday. Still, the incident makes it harder for U.S.-led coalition troops to gain the trust of Afghan villagers as they try to secure gains on the battlefield, and it gives Karzai more leeway to balk at U.S. demands on critical war issues, including negotiations on the partnership agreement.