-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- President Obama has ordered national security officials to look into allegations that the Bush administration resisted efforts to investigate a CIA-backed Afghan warlord over the killings of hundreds of Taliban prisoners in 2001 . In an exclusive , CNN talked with President Obama in Ghana about his order to review alleged deaths of Taliban . `` The indications that this had not been properly investigated just recently was brought to my attention , '' Obama told CNN 's Anderson Cooper in an exclusive interview during the president 's visit to Ghana . The full interview will air 10 p.m. Monday . `` So what I 've asked my national security team to do is to collect the facts for me that are known , and we 'll probably make a decision in terms of how to approach it once we have all of the facts gathered up , '' Obama said . The inquiry stems from the deaths of at least 1,000 Taliban prisoners who had surrendered to the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance in late 2001 . The fighters were in the custody of troops led by Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum , a prominent Afghan warlord who has served as chief of staff of the country 's post-Taliban army . Dostum , a former communist union boss and militia leader who fought against the U.S.-backed mujahedeen in the 1980s , is known for switching sides as Afghanistan 's political conflict has evolved . When the United States invaded Afghanistan after the September 11 , 2001 , attacks on New York and Washington , Dostum sided with the Americans and received military and CIA support to battle the Taliban . The allegations against him first surfaced in a 2002 Newsweek report , which cited a confidential U.N. memo saying the prisoners died in cramped container trucks while being transported from their Konduz stronghold in northern Afghanistan to Sheberghan prison , west of Dostum 's stronghold at Mazar-e Sharif . At the time , the Boston , Massachusetts-based group Physicians for Human Rights said it found a mass grave in nearby Dasht-e Leili , where witnesses said the bodies of Taliban prisoners were buried . The finding prompted U.S. Gen. Tommy Franks , who led the invasion of Afghanistan , to support an investigation into the allegations . But The New York Times , citing government officials and human rights organizations , reported Friday that the Bush administration `` repeatedly discouraged efforts to investigate the episode . '' State Department officials recently have tried to derail Dostum 's reappointment as military chief of staff to Afghan President Hamid Karzai , the newspaper reported , citing several senior officials who suggested the administration `` might not be hostile to an inquiry . '' Dostum , a key ally of Karzai , was reportedly living in exile in Turkey until last month , when he was reinstated to his post as defense minister . He had left Afghanistan over allegations that he had kidnapped Akbar Bai , a former ally turned political rival . When asked by CNN about whether Obama would support an investigation , the president replied , `` I think that , you know , there are responsibilities that all nations have , even in war . And if it appears that our conduct in some way supported violations of laws of war , then I think that , you know , we have to know about that . '' Watch part of CNN 's exclusive interview with the president '' Susannah Sirkin , deputy director of Physicians for Human Rights , on Sunday praised Obama `` for ordering his national security team to collect all the facts in the Dasht-e-Leili massacre and apparent U.S. cover-up . '' `` U.S. military and intelligence personnel were operating jointly and accepted the surrender of the prisoners jointly with General Dostum 's forces in northern Afghanistan , '' Sirkin said earlier in the week . `` The Obama administration has a legal obligation to determine what U.S. officials knew , where U.S. personnel were , what involvement they had , and the actions of US allies during and after the massacre . These questions , nearly eight years later , remain unanswered . ''