Taliban believe Bales wasn't alone

The Taliban are angry a U.S. soldier alleged to have killed 16 Afghan civilians was flown out of Afghanistan, but believe he didn't act alone, a commander said. "We don't think that one American was involved," the Taliban commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told CNN. "The foreigners and the puppet regime [in Afghanistan] are blind to the truth of what happened here. "But if this was the act of one soldier, we want this soldier to be prosecuted in Afghanistan, and according to Islamic law. The Afghans should prosecute him." Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the Army soldier U.S. officials said would be charged in the killings, was to meet his lawyer Monday after spending the weekend in pretrial isolation at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. The barracks is the U.S. military's only maximum-security facility. Bales, 38, has been in military custody since he surrendered following what U.S. officials described as a rampage March 11 through villages in Kandahar province in which he allegedly shot, stabbed and set ablaze men, women and children. Prosecutors have said nothing publicly about the case. President Barack Obama said he instructed the military to prosecute it aggressively. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Bales could face the death penalty. Formal charges are expected to be filed within a week. The killings have stoked Afghan anger toward the United States, especially coming after earlier incidents in which U.S. personnel urinated on the corpses of Taliban fighters and mistakenly burned Korans. Bales' lawyers haven't denied the charges against the married father of two, but point to his three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, along with a traumatic brain injury and a severe foot injury, as possible mitigating circumstances. "It is too early to determine what factors may have played into this incident and the defense team looks forward to reviewing the evidence, examining all of Sergeant Bales' medical and personnel records, and interviewing witnesses," said a statement by the lawyers, led by Seattle attorney John Henry Browne. Browne, 65, has represented high-profile defendants including 1970s serial killer, rapist, kidnapper and necrophile Ted Bundy and Colton Harris-Moore, known as the "Barefoot Bandit." Bundy was executed in Florida in 1989. Harris-Moore was sentenced to more than seven years in prison in December and then to 6 1/2 years for related federal crimes in January. Bales will also have at least one military lawyer, officials said. A resident of an Afghan village where the alleged massacre occurred alleged to CNN multiple attackers had gone into a home before dawn March 11, asked a man where the Taliban were and then shot him dead. "Finally, they came to this room and martyred all the children," Ali Ahmed said, claiming a 2-month-old infant was among the nine children killed. Later, he said some of the dead were piled in a room and set on fire. Despite a rift in U.S.-Afghan relations, Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States said his nation trusts the United States to handle the case properly. "We do trust the United States, and we do know how important this relationship is, and we are working as a partner to resolve all of the issues as a partner," Eklil Hakimi told CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday.