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Shah Marai / AFP - Getty Images
Afghans shout anti-American slogans during a protest in Kabul on Thursday.
Updated at 9:50 a.m. ET: KABUL, Afghanistan -- President Barack Obama has written a letter to his Afghan counterpart apologizing for the burning of copies of the Quran at a NATO military base in the country. Two U.S. soldiers were also shot dead Thursday at a protest about the desecration of the holy books.
A man wearing an Afghan government soldier's uniform killed the American troops and wounded four others at the demonstration in Nangarhar province, officials told NBC News.
There have been violent protests daily since it emerged on Tuesday that Qurans used by detainees held at the Bagram military base had been burned. The incident has become a public relations disaster for foreign forces in Afghanistan.
A statement from President Hamid Karzai's office said the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan had delivered the letter from Obama Thursday.
Taliban to Afghans: Kill foreigners over Quran burnings
In the letter, which is quoted in the statement, the U.S. president expressed his "deep regret for the reported incident" and offered his "sincere apologies."
According to the statement, Obama wrote: "The error was inadvertent; I assure you that we will take the appropriate steps to avoid any recurrence, to include holding accountable those responsible."
Massoud Hossaini / AFP - Getty Images
Angry afghans attacked U.S. bases after reports of Quran desecration.
Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the National Security Council, told NBC News that Obama had "expressed our regret and apologies over the incident in which religious materials were unintentionally mishandled at Bagram air base."
The Quran burnings at the vast Bagram base could make it even more difficult for U.S.-led NATO forces to win the hearts and minds of Afghans and bring the Taliban to the negotiating table ahead of the withdrawal of foreign combat troops by the end of 2014.
Muslims consider the Quran the literal word of God and treat each book with deep reverence. Desecration is considered one of the worst forms of blasphemy.
NBC's Afghanistan correspondent discusses the Quran controversy
General John Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), on Tuesday offered his "sincere apologies" for the burnings. "When we learned of these actions, we immediately intervened and stopped them," he added. "This was not intentional in any way."
The deadly protest in Nangarhar was one of several across the country on Thursday.
Riots triggered by the inadvertent Quran burning at a U.S. military base prompted the U.S. to lock down its embassy. NBC's Atia Abawi reports.
According to Haji Mohammad Hassan, the deputy police of Khogayani district in Nangarhar province, American soldiers had starting firing at protesters who were attacking their base.
He said that an Afghan soldier then turned his weapon on the U.S. troops, shooting six, killing two and injuring four.
PhotoBlog: 'Death to America!' Afghan anger over Quran burning intensifies
Hassan said the Afghan soldier escaped by joining the crowd of protesters. However, a provincial official, who asked not to be named, said the shooter had been killed after the attack.
The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack, NBC News reported.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a text message that they infiltrated the army with one of their fighters who had shot and killed the Americans. Mujahid claimed that their insurgent killed 10 Americans.
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The Associated Press, Reuters, NBC News' Atia Abawi, Chuck Todd and Kristen Welker contributed to this report.
Leave a Comment:
Why would anybody announce to the public that these Qurans had been burned?!!! Knowing violence would happen, they should of burned the books beyond recognition, then shut up about it!
MCAmom...my thoughts exactly...cost good men their lives...the person who made that decision needs to be taken out of there & sent home...possibly battle fatigued to make such an obvious blunder
Clearly neither of you actually read the article.
I read the article and don't recall it stating that NATO soldiers were standing in the middle of Kabul burning Qurans for all to see. Seriously, after all these years it should be apparent that these guys don't get, "oops".
Screw apologizing. They don't apologize for murder our people or their own. The 2 NATO troops killed should be avenged with 100 Taliban lined up and summarily shot dead.That's the only message these animals understand.
Ed. Those people dont afraid to die, they have NOTHING to loos. Our troops wants to come home (because they want to be alive for their families. By killing Afghans you will do them a favor (because of the @!$%#y life's that they have).
Remember they are maniacs not crazy.
Since you can find a cleric at every turn, why didn't they turn the materials over to a sympathetic cleric for evaluation and disposal? This would then be a Islamic issue, not one of 'infidels' defacing the Koran.
Never fails to amaze me how the lessons of the past are constantly being relearned.
ka9nyn...that would have been a great idea...simple solution...then the prisoners would have been in trouble for defacing the Koran by writing messages inside these books...helloooooo
What no one seems to be getting is that the Koran is not exactly written in English. They had no idea what books were left behind. They were just told to dispose of the trash. This was not intentional, and could not have been handled any better. If they had known it was the Koran, I believe things would have been handled differently. This was totally an accident on the part of the soldiers. Not deserving of being killed over.
This situation in Afghanistan calls for immediate action by our leaders, whether they be military or civilian. Orders should be given immediately to evacuate all NATO military bases in Afghanistan. Mission goal order is to protect all civilians that want to leave. Protect the soldier next to you. Finally, protect yourself. These are the commands that a real general should give instead of sobbing an apology about burning books. However, our commander-an-chief sits hidden in a backroom closet in the White House, sucking his thumb, mumbling something about it is all the republicans fault, and wishing everybody would just go away. Got a problem child in the White House! And you donkeys want to elect this boychild for another 4 years? I would rather vote for my pet turtle (I think he/she is a republican).
What a spineless coward our President is. It's only a book and he should have the balls to say so.
When do we "make the change." It's way past due. Ignorant bunch of ass holes.
easy three step process to end the violence:
Step 1: Pull out
Step 2: Let them fall
Step 3: Nuke them all
no one left to fight with. This easy process can be used with any country in termoil or facing unrest.
Let me get this straight...
We should apologize for burning a book, but its ok for them to kill our people.
That is an unbelievable trade off. This is so far past ridiculous it almost seems unreal!!!!!
Once again our "sad-sack" president cowtows to his muslim brothers. They can burn our flag and kill our troops wantonly and that's OK. Their so called god is not the same as our God. Theirs is one of destruction of any non-believers and ours is one of love and compassion for all of our sisters and brothers. Someone please show me an example of compassion amongst Muslims.
so what does that have to do with my post?
Oh yeah. We're winning hearts and minds now, baby. No book should ever be burned or otherwise destroyed. Period.
tell that to a two year old. lol
Wow, the USA doesnt understand Afghan culture! I understand it, yours is a culture of violence and corruption. The populace is by and large poor, uneducated and they help to supply the worlds heroin trade. Most of whats referred to as government are actually tribes run by warlords, you know like Genghis Kahn.
For the most part electricity and running water are relegated to the wealthy and city dwellers. The poorest group of Americans live better then the average Afghans.
How am I doing so far? Time to take the troops home Mr President. We accomplished most of what we came there for. There is not enough money in the world to stabilize that POS country. I think its time we drop the tradition of rebuilding what we tore through. Afghanistan attacked us via their taliban government, and their support of the late (yay!) bin laden. We routed the taliban and put a couple of rounds in bin ladens skull. We are done.
Time to leave and put a letter on karzi's desk saying this. Youre on your own and good luck to you. Let it be known that if this or any future government wets its beak in American blood, we will back. And we wont just be burning books.
I agree with this. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980's is one of the factors that helped bring the country down. We accomplished what we set out to do by overthrowing the Taliban and killing OBL. Now it is time to get out. Let Karzi and the others settle their own messes, with a stern warning that the US reserves the right to return if Al Queda even thinks about setting up camp in the country again.
This is why the 4 Marines were Pis sing on the dead Taliban. They know them and their ways.
In the incident when solders were shooting at the Quran, I saw our General apologizing and kissing Quran. I have big respect for Generals and Presidents that dont give a sh...t if they look humiliated as long if its saves THEIR solders life's and stops the blood shading.
This president is an idiot! There was no reason to apologize, or bow to the King of Saudi Arabia, or apologize for America to the Muslim world for unIslamic activities. Enough with the apology tour! He makes us look so weak.
Gee, maybe testosterone fueled actions like burning the Quran and urinating on dead soldier's bodies aren't really so good for our soldiers safety or mission.
remove all korans, let them pray from memory. God knows their religion is that ols that one of the prisoners can chant to learn.
this is stupid pandering by the US. it is juvenile manipulation and Karzai is a wimp riding the rails to protect the skin on his back.
we need to get out and leave them to it. we actually need to leave quickly, create a vacuum and see how long it take pakistan to come knocking on our door.
let china run with it for a while, it will be a whole different ball game if they got involved. russia learnt its lesson. so what praty tell are we doing there still.
Another bow by Obama to the enemy - should have torched as many korans as we could when they dragged our dead Marines through the street. Where was the oucry then from these bast!rds.
The Afgahan government is not our enemy.
yeah no @!$%# they don't put how they desecrate the dead bodies in the news...only vets know better...semper fi
You know what, I'm not even going to read this article. The title says it all. I think that Islam, and the barbarians that follow it, is nothing more than a stain on the face of humanity.
Jusdging by the fact that you feel you can post on something without the details tells me you probably can't read the article.
Well it would seem that it is time to leave this little backward place, just take out all infrastructure as they go.
Still stunned by this religious stupidity... but it occurs on both sides.
But then I have advocated in the past that we ask the Russians if they want a little payback... need to bring them in with as many Hind helicopters and us with Apache and just open up with autocannons on every city. A couple of MOABs will work too.
Let me get this straight...
We should apologize for burning a book, but its ok for them to kill our people.
That is an unbelievable trade off. This is so far past ridiculous it almost seems unreal!!!!!
How many times are you going to say that, Brian? We heard you the first time.
And the second, and the thrid and the fourth............
Why hasn't John Boner said something desperate and stupid yet? Perhaps he has just accepted an Obama victory after rolling over on the payroll tax. What a loser.
We burn a few holy books by accident and apologize profusely. Then they kill 2 American soldiers...human beings! Where is THEIR apology for THAT?
IC-638041....where do you read that these holy books were "burned by accident"?
Sylvia-in the story above
So, in a nutshell, they kill two of our men. And we apologize for burning their bible, because that is what made them so mad that they killed two Americans.
The World to Taliban and Afghans: F*CK YOU and your fairy tale books.
Get A Life! you need God In your Life because people like you need Help!
Dumb-ass, there is no god. no heaven, no hell, no nothing. You are a fool.
Go pray with your pedophile priests and leave us free-thinkers alone.
The shooter was shot and killer after the attack. N O T! GET OUT GET OU GET OUT. Let them tear themselves apart! This is what they do AND they have done for ever.
I agree with Alan! There is no Real God, which tells his people to kill others. God has the power to do it , himself! THE Curan- THe book of Lies, was written by a radical Sand N!66er, and they have had Wars, and "Jahad" since the begginning. They are nothing but sun baked crazy mad men, whom worship a false god, and burning of lies is the best for this world! Maybe we as Americans shouild start killing all of the Sand People here in the United States. How do you think that would go over? Then we got President Yomama, whom also worships the Coran. What a joke!
What's a Coran? I know Corian is a dish but never heard of a Coran. Maybe you stick to simple things you can actually talk about Bill. Like maybe, peanut butter and jelly.
Nice "Exit Strategy" "Mr. President" Nothing like a smooth transition of power and security ......Hope you enjoyed your little party the other night .......
So what would you have him do? The American public is tired of fighting in that god forsake middle eastern place. Get out NOW. They are always going to hate us so pull out.... but the GOP has to have wars to get the public's mind off of how little else they have to offer us.
Getting out is fine .......I'm all for it ! It's they way it is being done that is the problem..... This President and his foreign policy has done nothing but destroy any hope of having (at the very least) a functional situation in the region. He is a joke and the whole world knows it !
Only those in your tiny little world PV.
Sally ....what "tiny little world" do you live in ? This POTUS is a complete failure in foreign affairs and economic policy....you just keep eating from that trough of BS the media is feeding you ......It would appear that there a number of people from my "little world" on here that agree with me.