Video Related To: Two U.S. marines killed, Prince Harry unharmed after attack at Afghanistan base

KABUL (Reuters) - A senior US commander defended on Thursday moving a US soldier accused of slaughtering 16 Afghan civilians out of Afghanistan to a military detention centre in Kuwait, saying it would help ensure a proper investigation and trial. Furious Afghan civilians and members of parliament have demanded the staff sergeant be tried in Afghanistan over the shooting, one of the worst of its kind since US-backed Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in 2001 for harboring al Qaeda leaders. "This is really about being able to ensure that we can execute this investigation and the judicial proceedings fairly and properly," said Lieutenant-General Curtis Scaparrotti, the second most senior US commander in Afghanistan. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the suspect was moved to Kuwait, while NATO said only that the soldier was spirited out of Afghanistan late on Wednesday. Asked about the possible impact on ties with Afghanistan, Scaparrotti said: "We informed the government that we were going to move the individual, and their response was that they understood that. That is what we had done under the protocol that we used throughout in serious incidents." The killings in Kandahar province on Sunday have raised questions about Western strategy in Afghanistan and intensified calls for the withdrawal of foreign combat troops, most of whom are scheduled to pull out by the end of 2014. Relatives of the dead villagers and Afghanistan's parliament demanded the <b>...</b>