Koran Burning at Bagram Air Base Draws the Ire of Thousands
Thousands of Aghans protested at Bagram Air Base, the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan, on Tuesday, as local laborers found out that NATO personnel had been burning Korans at the base. With news of the protest still coming in, MSNBC is reporting that the base saw 2,000-3,000 protesters today. "Afghan demonstrators used slingshots and fired guns in the air while U.S. helicopters responded with flares," reads the MSNBC report. "The demonstrators — shouting "Die, die, foreigners!" — started gathering in the morning after learning of the incident." According to MSNBC and The New York Times, local Bagram employees reportedly found the charred remains of Korans in the trash.
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NATO Commander Gen. John R. Allen has already issued an apology for burning. "ISAF personnel at Bagram Air Base improperly disposed of a large number of Islamic religious materials which included Korans,” Allen said, referring to NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, in The New York Times report, which politely went with Allen's "disposal" euphemism in its headline. "When we learned of these actions, we immediately intervened and stopped them. The materials recovered will be properly handled by appropriate religious authorities."
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We'll keep this post updated as more news comes in.
