Obama Apologizes for Koran Burning as Afghans, Troops Killed

By Eltaf Najafizada

Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama apologized for the burning of Korans on a U.S. air base, as Afghans and NATO troops died in a third day of riots over the treatment of the Islamic scripture.

At least five deaths raised the riots’ Afghan death toll to 12, according to provincial officials reached by phone from Kabul. An Afghan in army uniform killed two soldiers of the U.S.-led coalition force in Afghanistan, a statement from its headquarters said.

Obama wrote to Afghan President Hamid Karzai that “I wish to express my deep regret for the reported incident,” in which personnel at the Bagram air base threw copies of the Koran and other books into a burning rubbish pile. 

“I extend to you and the Afghan people my sincere apologies,” Obama wrote, according to a statement from Karzai’s office.

“We will take the appropriate steps to avoid any recurrence, to include holding accountable those responsible,” Obama said, according to the statement. Obama’s apology, part of a letter discussing “a range of issues related to our long-term partnership,” was delivered by U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, Tommy Vietor, a White House spokesman, said in an e-mail.

An Afghan in army uniform shot two U.S. soldiers as hundreds of protesters were besieging their base in the eastern province of Nangarhar, said Ahmed Zia Abdulzai, the provincial government spokesman. It wasn’t clear whether the soldiers shot in that incident were the two NATO troops killed because NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, said in a statement that its policy prevented it from releasing the nationality of its casualties.

Embassy Restriction

The American embassy continued to restrict movements of its staff because of the risk of attack by Afghans angered at what protesters say was a desecration of the Muslim holy book.

Protests or riots were reported across the country. Local officials confirmed two people killed in Nangarhar, two in the central province of Uruzgan, and one in the north, in Baghlan province.

The violence is the second time in a year that riots have erupted across Afghanistan over the perceived desecration of the Koran by Americans. In April, the burning of a Koran by a pastor in Florida led to four days of riots in which 24 people died, including two U.S. soldiers shot by an Afghan policeman.

The U.S.-led force in Afghanistan and other westerners often underestimate the reverence of Afghans and other Muslims for the Koran, according to Sultan Shahin, an Indian analyst who runs New Age Islam, a website on 

Muslim and interfaith affairs.

ISAF’s commander, U.S. Army General John Allen, has ordered training for all troops in “the proper handling of religious materials.”

Karzai appealed for calm yesterday, asking people to await the outcome of the investigation. While a German ISAF officer, Brigadier General Carsten Jacobson, told reporters yesterday that ISAF hoped to issue as statement as early as today on how the incident unfolded, the force has said only that a team of investigators had visited the site.

--With assistance from James Rupert in New Delhi and Roger Runningen in Washington. Editors: Larry Liebert, Terry Atlas

To contact the reporter on this story: Eltaf Najafizada in Kabul at enajafizada1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg at phirschberg@bloomberg.net