KABUL, Afghanistan - More than 2,000 angry Afghans protested outside an American airbase yesterday after they learned that copies of the Quran were burned in a pile of garbage at a sprawling US military base north of Kabul."Die, die, foreigners!" the demonstrators shouted. Some fired rifles into the air. Others threw rocks at the gate of the base and set tires ablaze.
The burning of the Quran and other religious books was unintentional, US General John Allen, the top commander of American and Nato forces in Afghanistan, said.
- The incident stoked anti-foreign sentiment that is already on the rise after a decade of war in Afghanistan and fuelled the arguments of Afghans who claim foreign troops are not respectful of their culture or Islamic religion.
- Early yesterday, as word of the incident spread, about 100 demonstrators gathered outside the sprawling Bagram Air Field in Parwan province. As the crowd grew, so did the outrage.
- Ahmad Zaki Zahed, chief of the provincial council, said US military officials took him to a pit on the base where 60 to 70 books, including Qurans, were recovered. The books were used by detainees once incarcerated at the base, he said.
- "Some were all burned. Some were half-burned," Zahed said, adding that he did not know exactly how many Qurans had been burned.
- Zahed said five Afghans working at the pit told him that the religious books were in the garbage that two soldiers with the US-led coalition transported to the pit in a truck late Monday night. When they realised the books were in the trash, the labourers quickly worked to recover them, he said.
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