Afghans Protest Inadvertent Military Burning of Qur'ans

Furious demonstrations broke out in Afghanistan yesterday as reports circulated of NATO troops at Bagram Air Base setting fire to bags containing copies of the Qur'an and books of Qur'anic interpretation.  The New York Times and CNN report in depth on the events. On Monday night, a dump truck escorted by a military vehicle drove up to a landfill at Bagram and began unloading bags of books into a pit for incineration.  Afghans working at the site saw what was happening and objected. The soldiers drew back, but two bags already thrown into the pit had begun to burn, and they were pulled out by Afghans with half-burned Qur'ans in them.  The books came from the Detention Facility in Parwan which houses insurgents captured by Americans in raids.  ISAF Commander General John R. Allen said: "We are thoroughly investigating the incident and we are taking steps to ensure this does not ever happen again. I assure you … I promise you … this was NOT intentional in any way."  One official said that the materials were removed from a library at Parwan because of "extremist inscriptions" communicated on them. Secretary of Defense Leon Pantetta also apologized, while ISAF announced that coalition personnel will be trained in proper handling of religious materials by March 3. At the White House daily press briefing (full text), press secretary Jay Carney said in part:

This was a deeply unfortunate incident that does not reflect the great respect our military has for the religious practices of the Afghan people.  Our military leaders have apologized, as I mentioned, for these unintentional actions, and ISAF is undertaking an investigation to understand what happened and to ensure that steps are taken so that incidents like this do not happen again.

UPDATE: CNN reports Wednesday that at least 5 people have been killed and 20 wounded as police respond to protests in Parwan and Nangarhar provinces. The U.S. embassy in Kabul is in lock down for a second day. Americans were asked to avoid the area near Camp Phoenix (near Kabul International Airport) where violent demonstrations were also taking place.