U.S. apologies dismissed
In a bid to ease tensions, President Obama took the unusual step of extending a personal apology for the incident.
In Kabul, Afghan police sympathize with protesters angry over Koran burning
White House spokesman Jay Carney, speaking to reporters Thursday aboard Air Force One en route to Miami, said the apology was part of a three-page letter to President Hamid Karzai covering a variety of issues. Carney said the apology was “wholly appropriate, given the sensitivities to this issue,” as well as Obama’s “primary concern” for the safety of American military and civilian personnel in Afghanistan.
With tensions still high, however, the U.S. Embassy remained on lockdown for a second day and extended its travel restrictions to a typically peaceful part of northern Afghanistan.
In a meeting with Karzai early Friday, some members of the Afghan parliament demanded harsh retribution, while religious officials spoke of jihad and the urgent need to respond with violence. At the same time, the Taliban issued a harshly worded statement encouraging Afghan security officials to take up arms against Western forces.
On the streets of Kabul, police officers said they didn’t care about the flurry of U.S. apologies, including the one from Obama, or the demands of Afghan politicians. The offense felt was personal, most said, not diminished by contrition or inflamed by hostile rhetoric.
“It is difficult sometimes to convince people not to resort to protest,” said Qaseem Jangalbagh, the police chief of Panjshir province. Asked whether that included his own officers, he said, “It is a problem.”
Junior officers spoke more bluntly, saying they would shirk their duties rather than quash demonstrations and referring often to their own violent impulses.
“We should burn those foreigners,” said a police officer in his early 30s who has been in the force for almost 2 1 / 2 years. Like most of the country’s security officers, he was trained by NATO troops.
Anger within Bagram base
Police officers weren’t the only Afghans assumed to be U.S. allies who spoke of mounting friction. The first early morning protests Tuesday were led by Afghan employees of Bagram air base, where the religious materials were burned. NATO military officials have said in public statements that the incineration was accidental.
Some Bagram employees — who often face threats for aiding the United States — waved the charred books in the air, demanding a response.
Those employees, among the 5,000 Afghans who support the base’s operations, chanted “Death to America” and lobbed rocks at gates that some had entered for years. Some cursed their bosses and promised never to return to work at Bagram.
“How could we ever work for someone who could do this?” asked a 21-year-old man who said he had worked for two years in a warehouse on the base. “This couldn’t have happened by accident. This was meant to offend us.”
Taliban officials, who are in the middle of tenuous peace talks with the United States, had initially condemned the burning but stopped short of advocating violence — an uncharacteristically muted response. But in the written statement released Thursday, the insurgent group took a tougher stance.
The statement described the burning as a “deliberate” act, despite repeated statements by top U.S. officials that the books were sent to the incinerator by mistake. The Taliban statement said Afghans and Muslims should not be placated by the U.S. apologies and declared that protests and “mere slogans” were not enough of a response.
“For the defense of our holy book, we . . . must target the invaders’ military centers, their military convoys and their invading forces . . . so that they can never dare to desecrate the holy Koran again,” the statement said.
It was difficult to determine whether the attack Thursday on the U.S. troops was orchestrated by the Taliban or was a response to the group’s call for revenge. The attack occurred in eastern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said. Few details were released.
Special correspondent Sayed Salahuddin contributed to this report.
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