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Koran burning: Taliban calls for revenge as Obama apologizes

Published time: February 23, 2012 19:00
Edited time: February 23, 2012 23:19
A wounded protester lies on the ground as Afghan policemen keep watch during a protest in Kabul February 23, 2012 (Reuters / Omar Sobhani)

The Taliban is urging Afghans to attack Western military bases in revenge for the recent burning of copies of the Koran. President Barack Obama has officially apologized for the incident as more people die in anti-American violence.

­In a statement published on Thursday the Taliban called on Afghans to "target the military bases of invader forces, their military convoys and their invader bases." They also urged the Afghan people to teach the invaders "a lesson to never dare desecrate the Holy Koran again."

This comes as anti-American protests continue throughout Afghanistan after copies of the Koran and other sacred texts were burnt at a US military base. On Thursday eight more people were killed in the violence including two NATO troops, who were shot dead by a man in Afghan uniform.

On Wednesday the US embassy in Kabul was closed due to safety concerns. At least 12 people have been killed since the protests broke out three days ago.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai called those involved in burning the sacred text “ignorant” and “with poor understanding.”

Meanwhile, President Obama has sent an official letter of apology to Karzai on Thursday. "I convey my deepest sympathies and ask you and the people to accept my deepest apologies,” the letter read. NATO officials made their apologies immediately after the incident, but it did not prevent riots breaking out the country.

The incident took place on Monday at the Bagram military base. The Koran and other sacred texts were seized from arrested Afghans and burnt as extremist literature.

The NATO-led mission in Afghanistan is investigating the case. Moreover, Obama has assured Karzai that Washington “will take the appropriate steps to avoid any recurrence and to hold accountable those responsible.”

Comments (65)

Diana (unregistered) 02.03.2012 03:50

SilverRain, in order for rignleois with non-mainstream values to be accepted in the USA, they need to sit passively by while everybody else shreds their most sacred beliefs like a comedy roast, only without the laughs. The US Senate made it its official business to do exactly this with Mormonism for many years (it was called The Reed Smoot Hearings ), and if it hadn't been for that, our church would probably still practice polygamy. By forcing the Mormon church to passively endure that spotlight of attention and disrespect, it converted Mormonism into a religion capable of mainstream acceptance Mormons had experienced violence, and that hadn't changed them, but non-violent incursions into their practices was just the thing. If everyone would have sat back and pretended to be tolerant, the LDS church would still be a marginal church with marginal beliefs isolated in a remote geographical area.It is both MORAL and WISE to treat Muslims the same way. We SHOULD do it.The fact that you compare my burning a printed artifact that I own to sexual assault shows how unhinged you are by this whole discussion.

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IMHO 24.02.2012 14:24

Sorry Obamasama... but your talkspeak rings hollow, is meaningless and, in all probability, means just the exact opposite based upon your "Audacity to Hope/(Encroach)" spiel that has helped fatten YOUR wallet! 
Now level with your ex-supporters- Which planet are you really from??Liamonia, the planet of "sorry for this, sorry for that" of some other distant galaxy. I used to believe but no longer.
GET REAL and start packing. You make G.W. Bush look more and more like George Washington every day and every time you get into your "Public Speaking Mode" as if you are the robot Fidel Castro has spoken of.  And enjoy all the perks you've accrued as POTUS once you're gone while the rest of us will be treated to tasers, torture and possibly murder all due to your "bleedership".  Thanks; ... and good riddance.
P.S. I'm choosing to do my civic duty for this upcoming farcical joke of our upcoming election by casting my NON VOTE and ask those like minded individuals &nb sp;to do the same and who want to show true American patriotism  to the people of the world by showing how much we are REALLY represented and "believe in" this current system .  Once you boil it down, the citizens have virtually no influence at the ballot box at the federal level and are not even considered "..... the People" as the corporations/ lobbyist/ 0.0001%  are - and so by returning the favor with active resistance we can send the message of our plight and "tell 'em where they can stick it" as we rush on towards the precipice of the gurgleing (sic) vortex as we are drawn down into  the waste land that we have become to realize. 

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Talib 24.02.2012 11:59

This escalation of violence is just evidence of the underlying tension the afghan people have towards these invading terrorist.
Let this be a lesson to you , when karzai and his puppet regime can no longer feign their legitimacy, when the afghan people as a whole finally give up hope in americas 'democrazy ' , these invaders will be the first to feel their wrath ..

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