Kabul (AsiaNews) - Protests continue outside the military base at Bagram (60 kilometers
northwest of Kabul) after a group of U.S. soldiers burned the Koran. Despite
the tense atmosphere, AsiaNews sources stress that "in the center of Kabul there are no demonstrations
and the situation is calm." "The
protests reported by international agencies are concentrated outside the city
and involve several hundred people."
The
biggest protests were held at Bagram, where thousands of people surrounded a
military camp, throwing stones and Molotov cocktails. The toll is three wounded. To
ensure security, Washington
has closed its embassy in the capital. After
the apologies of General John Allen, commander of the NATO mission in Afghanistan, even Leon Panetta, Minister of
Defense of the United States,
has apologized to the "noble people of Afghanistan."
The burning
occurred yesterday in Bagram airbase. The
American soldiers had seized the books from some of the nearby prison inmates
who had found a way to communicate with the outside, exchanging copies of the
holy book. The
material was stacked in a container and set on fire. To
denounce the sacrilegious act was a mujahideen used inside the base.
Sources
say this is yet another act of violence against the Afghan people and comes
shortly after news of a possible dialogue between the Taliban, NATO and the
Karzai government. "The
people are exasperated by this situation - conclude the sources - it is not the first time that
such acts have occured. Burning a holy book is an offense for any person not only for
Muslims. The United States
should reconsider the way they act in Afghanistan.
" (SC)