Afghan President Hamid Karzai called Thursday for U.S. and other foreign forces in the country to hand over security to his government's forces sooner than planned, following the publication of photographs showing American troops posing with the body parts of dead suicide bombers.

In a statement issued by the presidential palace statement to NBC News and other media outlets Karzai said he strongly condemned the "inhumane and provocative" act. 

"It is such a disgusting act to take photos with body parts and then share it with others," he said, according to the statement.

The statement noted "similar incidents of odious nature in the past that sparked angry reaction by the Afghans and the international community at large."

US condemns troops for allegedly posing with dead suicide bombers in Afghanistan

"The President underlines that the only way to put an end to such painful experiences is through an accelerated and full transition of security responsibilities to Afghan forces, so Afghanistan can take over its own destiny and, thus no such things can be repeated by the foreign forces in Afghanistan," it added.

The acts shown in the photographs, which were first published by the Los Angeles Times, were condemned by U.S. officials and the commander of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, Gen. John R. Allen. "The actions of the individuals photographed do not represent the policies of ISAF or the U.S. Army," Allen said.

On Wednesday, the LA Times ran an article in which it explained the decision to publish the pictures, which were taken in 2010.

“We considered this very carefully,” Editor Davan Maharaj said. “At the end of the day, our job is to publish information that our readers need to make informed decisions. We have a particular duty to report vigorously and impartially on all aspects of the American mission in Afghanistan."

"On balance, in this case, we felt that the public interest here was served by publishing a limited, but representative sample of these photos, along with a story explaining the circumstances under which they were taken," he added.

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The Times said that the the Defense Department had asked the paper not to run the photos.

The paper's article said that the safety of troops was among The Times' concerns.

“When we made the decision to publish, the Pentagon asked us to wait 24 additional hours to protect troops depicted in the photographs," Maharaj said. "We agreed to push back our publication date until the Pentagon told us they had taken the necessary precautions. In fact, we waited more than 72 hours after their request."

NBC News' Akbar Shinwari and Sohel Uddin in Kabul contributed to this report.

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Updated at 2 p.m. ET: KABUL: The Los Angeles Times published photos showing U.S. troops posing with the body parts of dead suicide bombers in Afghanistan on Wednesday, prompting condemnations from American officials even before the pictures were posted on the newspaper's website. 

A total of 18 pictures showing soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division were taken in 2010 and given to the Times by a soldier who served with the 82nd Airborne's 4th Brigade Combat Team from Ft. Bragg, N.C., the newspaper reported. Only two of the 18 photos appeared on the site.

In an apparent attempt at damage control, the commander of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan said in a statement -- issued before the photographs and story appeared on the Times' site -- that he condemned the apparent actions of U.S. personnel in the pictures.

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"The commander of the International Security Assistance Force, Gen. John R. Allen, strongly condemns the actions depicted in photos released by LA Times that appear to show U.S. Army personnel posing with the bodies of insurgents who killed themselves in suicide attacks in 2010," NATO said in a statement, according to NBC News.

"The actions of the individuals photographed do not represent the policies of ISAF or the U.S. Army," Allen said.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Wednesday also condemned the photos. In addition, he made a point to slam the L.A. Times for publishing them, saying he regrets that they were ever made public. 

"This is war and I know that war is ugly and it's violent and I know that young people sometimes caught up in the moment make some very foolish decisions," Panetta said. "I am not excusing that. I am not excusing that behavior but neither do I want these images to bring further injury to our people or to our relationship with the Afghan people." Panetta said.

"We had urged the LA Times not to run those photos. The reason for that is those kinds of photos are used by the enemy to incite violence and lives have been lost as a result of the publications of similar photos in the past. We regret that they were published," Panetta said.

In an earlier statement issued by the Pentagon, Panetta said: "These images by no means represent the values or professionalism of the vast majority of U.S. troops serving in Afghanistan today.

Panetta said an investigation that could lead to disciplinary measures is underway.

The news comes at a time of growing sensitivity over the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan after a series of damaging and embarrassing incidents involving U.S. troops. 

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In January, a video surfaced showing U.S. Marines urinating on Taliban corpses and then came widespread uproar in Afghanistan over the burning of copies of the Quran at the main American base in the country.

Then on March 17 people, mostly children and women, were killed in two villages of Kandahar province in an unexplained shooting rampage blamed on a U.S. soldier. At the time, Afghan President Hamid Karzai called for NATO forces to pull out of rural areas and stay in their bases, saying he was at the "end of the rope."

A spike in so-called green-on-blue attacks -- by Afghan army and police on U.S. and other foreign forces -- has stoked concern that some of that anger is spilling over into the security forces and turning them against their Western allies.

The Pentagon said it was investigating Wednesday's incident, which could lead to disciplinary measures.

"Anyone found responsible for this inhuman conduct will be held accountable in accordance with our military justice system,” the statement said.

"The danger is that this material could be used by the enemy to incite violence against U.S. and Afghan service members in Afghanistan. U.S. forces in the country are taking security measures to guard against it," it added.

A spokesman for President Hamid Karzai declined to comment on the report, telling NBC News it would be inappropriate to do so for the time being. 

U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker also condemned the actions depicted in photos.

NBC News and Reuters contributed to this report.

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General John R. Allen, commander of international forces in Afghanistan, condemned the Taliban's use of children as suicide bombers, after two 10-year-olds were arrested with explosive vests for the second time.

The commander of the International Security Assistance Force, said in a statement emailed to reporters on Tuesday that the "cold tactic" was "utterly despicable." ISAF also issued a statement expressing deep regret over the deaths of several young Afghans in an air attack in Kapisa province last week.

A Kandahar province spokesman, Zalmai Ayubi, said they and three other militants were "planning an attack on Afghan and international forces in Kandahar." Ayubi said they were found with two vests full of explosives.

AFP said the 10-year-olds were also found with explosive vests and arrested in August last year. They and 18 other children detained at that time subsequently received a pardon from Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
 
"The cold tactic of using any human being -- especially children -- to conduct suicide attacks is utterly despicable, and I denounce these tactics," Allen said in the statement.
 
"In now promoting child-suicide attacks, the insurgency have forfeited any remaining support they may have had with the people of Afghanistan," he added.  "We stand side by side with the Afghan people to do everything we can to eliminate suicide bombers of any age from the cities, towns and villages throughout the country."

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Reuters reported Monday that international forces had found the bodies of dead children in Giawa, Kapisa province. Afghan government officials showed gruesome photographs of eight dead boys, and said seven of them had been aged between six and 14, while one had been around 18 years old.

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They were bombed twice while herding sheep in heavy snow and lighting a fire to keep warm, they said.

"My command's mission is to protect the civilian people of Afghanistan," Allen said in the other statement. "I take very seriously the loss of every Afghan life. We will continue to do all we can to ensure the safety of the Afghan population."

Boy told he would be 'safe'
AFP reported that two 10-year-olds had gone to Pakistan after they were released following their first arrest. There they were trained how to carry out suicide atacks, then sent back to Afghanistan.

A statement from Kandahar officials sent to AFP contained quoted attributed to the two boys, named as Azizullah and Nasibullah.

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Azizullah was quoted as saying militants had told him he "would be safe after conducting a suicide attack."

He added that he had also been told that when "Americans fire at you ... they will not be able to hit you."

Nasibullah described his instructions from the Taliban in the statement.

"The Taliban forced me to fire a Kalashnikov ... I was scared at first. They also taught me how to blow my vest, they showed me how to press the button in my hand," he said.

"They then brought me to the city, asked me to sit on the side of the road and wait for foreign forces to come ... I was there when two police came and arrested me."

Reuters contributed to this report.

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