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Subscribe to RSSThousands of Afghans protested against the unintentional burning of Qurans and other Islamic religious materials during trash disposal at an American air base. NBC's Atia Abawi reports.
Updated at 2:40 p.m. ET: KABUL, Afghanistan -- Thousands of angry Afghans protested outside a U.S. military base on Tuesday, some hurling rocks and firing guns in the air, after reports surfaced that American troops had burned copies of the Quran and other religious items.
The demonstrators — shouting "Die, die, foreigners!" — gathered outside Bagram airbase, an hour's drive north of the capital Kabul. Photographs taken by the AFP news agency outside the airbase, showed people firing slingshots and others holding charred copies of the Quran, Islam's holy book.
"The people are very angry. The mood is very negative," said Zia Ul Rahman, deputy provincial police chief. "Some are firing hunting guns in the air, but there have been no casualties."
"We Afghans don't want these Christians and infidels, they are the enemy of our soil, our honor and our Quran," said Haji Shirin, one of the protesters.
Qais Usyan / AFP - Getty Images
More than a decade after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.
"I urge all Muslims to sacrifice themselves in order to pull out these troops from this soil."
U.S. helicopters fired flares to disperse the crowd.
Seeking to quickly tamp down the outrage, the White House apologized for the burning of Muslim holy books in a pile of garbage at Bagram.
PhotoBlog: Afghans besiege US base in protest over Quran burning
Press secretary Jay Carney said the "deeply unfortunate incident" doesn't reflect the respect the U.S. military has for the religious practices of the Afghan people.
Carney echoed military officials Tuesday in saying that the Quran burning happened unintentionally, and that an investigation was being undertaken to ensure it didn't happen again.
The top NATO general in Afghanistan, Gen. John Allen, also apologized. He said religious materials, including Qurans, that were identified for disposal were inadvertently taken to an incineration field at the airfield.
"Along with our apology to the Afghans is our certainty and assurance to them, that these kinds of incidents, when they do occur, will be corrected in the fastest and most appropriate manner possible," Allen said in a statement. "We've been shoulder to shoulder with the Afghans for a long time. We've been dying alongside the Afghans for a long time because we believe in them; we believe in their country, and we want to have every opportunity to give them a bright future."
Allen said he has also directed all coalition forces in Afghanistan to complete training in the proper handling of all religious materials by March 3.
A military official with knowledge of the incident told The Associated Press the Muslim holy books had been removed from a library at a nearby detention center because they contained extremist messages or inscriptions. He said it appeared the Qurans and other Islamic readings were being used to fuel extremism, and detainees apparently were leaving notes for one another inside them.
Thousands of Afghans rallied outside a U.S. military base over a report that foreign troops had improperly disposed of copies of the Quran, including some being burned. NBC's Natalie Morales reports.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the incident.
'Very angry'
Roshna Khalid, the provincial governor's spokeswoman, said Qurans were burned inside Bagram, citing accounts from local laborers.
"The laborers normally take the garbage outside and they found the remains of Qurans," she said.
Ahmad Zaki Zahed, chief of the provincial council, said U.S. military officials gave him about 30 Qurans and other religious books that were recovered before they were destroyed.
"Some are burned. Some are not burned," Zahed said, adding that the books were used by detainees once incarcerated at the base.
Latest killer of Afghan children: Hunger
The materials were in trash that two soldiers with the U.S.-led coalition transported in a truck late Monday night to a pit where garbage is burned on the base, according to Zahed, who spoke with five Afghans working at the pit.
He said that when the workers noticed the religious books in the trash, they stopped the disposal process.
Bagram also houses a prison for Afghans detained by American forces. The center has caused resentment among Afghans because of reports of torture and ill-treatment of suspected Taliban prisoners, with President Hamid Karzai demanding the transfer of prisoners to Afghan security.
Shah Marai / AFP - Getty Images
Afghan protesters throw stones toward U.S. soldiers standing at the gate of Bagram airbase during a protest Tuesday.
NYT: Afghan girls pay price for elders' misdeeds
Protests raged for three days across Afghanistan in April after a U.S. pastor burned a Quran in Florida. Eleven people were killed when demonstrators stormed a U.N. compound in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, including seven foreign U.N. workers. Another riot in the southern city of Kandahar left nine dead and more than 80 wounded.
Meanwhile, NATO said three coalition service members have been killed in a roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan. It did not give any other details about Tuesday's deaths.
Massoud Hossaini / AFP - Getty Images
A demonstrator holds a copy of the Quran allegedly set alight at Bagram airbase.
So far this year, 47 NATO service members have been killed in Afghanistan.
Earlier, NATO reported that a fourth service member died Tuesday as a result of a non-battle related injury, also in the south.
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The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Funny how we're supposed to be sensitive to the Muslim faith but when the catholic church says they don't want to be forced to pay for contraception they are a bunch of nut jobs. Bad to burn a Koran but okay to submerge the holy cross in urine (it's art you see). Seems to me Obama fails to grasp the catholic church's religious sensitivities. Maybe they should riot and shoot slingshots and guns.
I know what you mean, th Catholic priests have really sensitive weanies that are so small that they have to poke little boys.
Bottom line. We don't get these Muslims and they don't get us!
If the Korans were there for prisoners use, why was there no 'library' to store them for future use? You would think that officers would know better than to issue such orders in a Muslim country.
Wouldn't it be easier to just shoot all mooslims on site?
Chuk U. Farley
"Wouldn't it be easier to just shoot all mooslims on site?"
The Russians had already done that and they left wounded.
Standup, with our help, and as usual this is what we get in return
The burning of copies of the Koran could clearly be a misunderstanding for people from countries where the burning of any symbol (bibles, flags, the constitution) are seen as elements of free speech. Heck, even money is now considered free speech.
Of course from my perspective, this should not be a big deal because the words are eternal and the copies just copies. However, a few hundred years ago Christians inbued physical symbols of beliefs with the same hocus pocus powers.
I am impressed that the General took such quick action to defuse the situation and that the protests were largely peaceful. Now it is time to continue the draw down and get out of there. As far as I can tell, our biggest mistake was aligning with Karzai to run that country without understanding that all he would run was the drug trade.
Anita-2036926
I don't think you understand the holiness of the Koran. The Russians arrived, occupied, killed and then wounded and left. Which part do you not understand about occupation?
1. I can understand why Muslims get upset when their holy book is desecrated or destroyed, yet some Muslims kill fellow Muslims for not being the "right kind" of Muslim and destroy their mosques, and some Muslims kill Christians and destroy their churches. This makes sense?
I work in a library. Some years ago, Muslim students (mostly from abroad) made a complaint because the Koran was shelved on a bottom shelf, which they found disrespectful. It ended up there by chance, not intentionally. Staff members had to rearrange a good part of the stacks in order to get the Koran up to a higher shelf. In the west, placing a holy book on a bottom shelf is NOT disrespectful, yet instead of trying to understand our thoughts on this, we had to accommodate theirs. I would argue that all sacred texts should be accorded respect, but that their worth and "sacredness" exists in the human heart - not in the paper and ink that they are made with. Complaining, or rioting, and trying to kill others who have shown disrespect to a book, flies in the face of what sacred texts supposedly teach in the first place. "Our religion is a religion of peace, and we will kill all those who disrespect it!" Right.
Well said.
In the scheme of human issues, the burning of paper with ink is a non issue. These uneducated shoot-at-the-hip people will always find something that is "offensive" to them. The world will never be able to overcome that kind of ignorant mentality. This has been the tradition in that part of the world for thousands of years: "you sneeze towards my face, and I will kill you." Children learn this and it passes from generation to generation. Violence is their solution to anything they don't like. This is bullying on a grand scale. And the world should not let bullies control them. These bullies have access to financial resources to acquire deadly weapons.
Most of the Afghan population is illiterate and couldn't read a cereal box, much less the Koran. When we try to build schools to educate them, the Taliban burn them or blow them up. I'm not sure exactly what anyone from Afghanistan has done to further humanity for the better, so let's leave them to their misery. They seem to like it that way!
Most of the Afghan population is illiterate - Yes
Cannot read Koran - No!
we try to build schools to educate them - No! we Christainize them
They are free when Americans leave. They did that to the Russians not so long ago.
Please educate yourself!
il·lit·er·ate (-ltr-t)
adj.
1.
a. Unable to read and write.
b. Having little or no formal education.
2.
a. Marked by inferiority to an expected standard of familiarity with language and literature.
b. Violating prescribed standards of speech or writing.
3. Ignorant of the fundamentals of a give
Taliban kill Afghan students, burn schools
Stand:they do not learn to READ the Koran; they memorize what they are told it says. They are kept ignorant because their religious leaders want it that way, much the same as the Church wanted peasants to only believe what the priest said in the early centuries and not be able to read the bible. When people can read and reason for themselves they become a danger to the powers that be.
Standup, you continue to make my day, I haven't laughed this much in a long time.
What a gesture it would have been to hand over those books to the people.
Some dude : Hey? Let's give give these books to the people that live around here.
Some bigger dude: We will. But burn them first.
Some dude: o.O
Do you see them burning bibles?
Buy 100,000 Korans and hand them out to the people there. NOW!
Master, let me give you 10 books written in their language , now tell me which one is the Koran.
We need to leave Afcrapistan and let the savages kill each other. Even the different sects of muslims cannot get along. From what I hear the Sunnis F** k goats and the Shiites F** k camels. Either group is hate filled and does not have the least bit of desire for freedom. Mohammed was nothing but a child molester who probably ate pork in secret. Pizz on those people.
Islam is fighting a holy war regardless of what we want to call the war on terror.
need a light?
who cares really , I would burn the Quran anytime
After 9-11, we should have issued an ultimatum to the Taliban regarding al-Qaida. Non-compliance should have resulted in a few dozen hydrogen bombs being detonated on Afghanistan.
Problem (and country) eliminated.
Idiot, COWARD, so-called generals." You can't "desecrate" something that isn't Holy. And a book, the quran or koran, written by Satanic misfits is NOT and Never Will Be anything other than a cheap imitative perversion of the Real Thing. GOD only Wrote One Book-It's called The Bible. Basic-Instructions-Before-Leaving=Earth. Read It-Live It and Love It. Glory Be To GOD!
General John Allen (top NATO General in Afghanistan) doesn’t represent me in Afghanistan and I really don’t care who burns a Quran, a Bible or any other book.
Maybe not, but the soldiers who are stationed in Afghanistan need as much protection as they can get to divert local populations from targeting them even more than they do already. If General Allen has to issue an apology to try to protect his forces, go for it. In a year or so we can sit back an watch them destroy themselves.
They hold the Koran sacred. I hold the American Flag sacred. Why is it ok if they burn the American flag but not ok if someone burns the Koran?
Because we don't have people who go absolutely batsh*t f*cknuts if someone burns our flag...."condemning in strong language" is far different than "going absolutely bananas, like a bunch of chimpanzees"....I think it has something to do with wiping your a** with your fingers, but I could be wrong about that....
These guys couldn't give a rats a** about the Quran, but they DO care if the great unwashed have a sh*t fit....thus the profuse apologies...
nobrent..." Why is it ok if they burn the American flag but not ok if someone burns the Koran?"
I'm curious, which one of us on this news thread said it was ok if they burn the American flag? Just becauase we don't react like a bunch of barbarians over it does not mean that we are ok with it. It just means that we are civilized as compared with the supposed 'crazies" over there. Anyone who wishes we act more like them, and totally go ape sh*$ over these things, might do better leaving this country and living somewhere like Afghanistan
W H Y A R E W E T H E R E?????????????
To get Bin Laden.
Guys, it is true. The Koran is 'anti all other religions'. It states that we are infidels and must be put down, on the sole basis that we are non Muslim. Here in the P. Gulf, if you are not Arab and not Muslim, you are marked. Worse...if you are Muslim and not Arab, the locals think you are not worthy their 'Sect' and by that, I mean the Sunnis. They hate the Shias and everyone else. Now this may not apply probably to 1% of the locals in these countries that are educated in the West. But then again, it is my understanding that some of the 9/11 bombers were also educated in the West. They might have churches in some nations here in the Gulf (except Saudi Arabia) but evangelizing is not allowed. If a radical Muslim or any Muslim with a grudge for that matter wants to 'ice' you, so to speak, all they have to do is walk into 'so called' local police stations (a.k.a torture centres) and tell them that you blasphemed Islam or their Prophet. No evidence required to prove otherwise. You are lucky if you get deported...if not, the local prison population will make an example of you which would put the max. security prisons in the US holding child rapists and such to shame- prior deportation. The locals do not even spare their household help if they are found to be non Muslim. Recent example: A Kuwaiti man and his wife tortured their Filipino maid, then took her in their car to the desert, then pushed her out from the moving car, did a 180 and finished her off by driving their car over her body several times making sure she was dead. I could go on but this is but a small example of their so called 'generosity', hatred and mindset towards the other 6 billion people on this planet. They can modernize all they want with the 'trappings invented' by the West with their oil money...but in the end...the 'barbarian or savages gene' in them will always surface to show you a dark side that would humble even the Lord of the Rings.
Big Deal! Who cares, there are people just looking to riot. Handle it! I don't see a problem. Sure it was a bit dumb, but not a big deal. Let's get out of there. All troops return home, we need you on the border to stop the invasion of America! If you leave the A-stan nothing changes, that place is what it is....a pit!
We need to get the hell out of there. It seems that every month, some new "sensitivity" is infringed upon by the ISAF forces. Damn Bush/Cheney for not doing their jobs with Afghanistan and OBL asap, as promised.
Let these folks to the Taliban, if they feel these murdering thugs present a better future for Afghanistan. With the Pakis laying in wait, it is just a matter of time that the Taliban take back that dust bowl. Better now, than in 2014 after more lives and treasure are lost.
Comparing the Jewish faith to the Muslim faith is kinda' far fetched , kinda' like comparing Mormonism to Christianity . Where were these indignant protesters when westerners were being beheaded in front of Al Jazeera cameras ?
You are ignorant, bleu(balls).
marlene, funny you calling someone ignorant while calling them a name
Koran, Bible, or Talmud-----------Burn them, it's not as if there is anything in them anyways.
who cares - I mean really - who the @#$% cares????
Awe piss on them.