Two American Soliders Killed Over Afghan Koran Burnings
The protests in Afghanistan over the inadvertent burning of the Koran by American troops have claimed their first victims:
Two U.S. troops have been shot to death and four more wounded by an Afghan solider who turned his gun on his allies in apparent anger over the burning of Korans at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan, an Afghan official tells CBS News.
A statement from the International Security Assistance Force – Afghanistan, the international coalition in the country, confirmed that two troops were killed in Eastern Afghanistan on Thursday by “an individual wearing an Afghan National Army uniform.”
ISAF does not typically give the nationality of casualties until family members have been notified, but the CBS News source in the Afghan government said those killed and injured in the attack in the eastern Ningarhar province, along the border with Pakistan, were Americans.
The source also said the shooting appeared to be motivated by the burning of Korans at the sprawling U.S. Bagram air base, north of Kabul, but he did not provide additional details as to what led him to that conclusion.
The suspect apparently joined other protesters already demonstrating against the U.S. at an American military outpost and opened fire with an automatic weapon, according to the Afghan source.
The killings are unjustifiable, of course. However, I agree completely with James Joyner’s assessment that this is yet another reason why we need to bring as swift an end to our ill-fated missing in Afghanistan as soon as possible.
Photo via CBS News
About Doug Mataconis
Yes it only took him six or seven years to figure it out. I agree entirely on the substance, the only issue now is how we exit as gracefully as possible. I understand that if the decision was taken to pull the plug tomorrow it would take six months of concentrated and highly visible effort just to remove all military hardware, heavy equipment and installations. Hopefully we have a low key steady exodus going on at present.
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Uhhhh, Doug, looky here Dateline: 22 Feb. 2012 @ 1049 EST
Your article’s dateline: Feb 23 2012 6:54 AM (EST?)
But then, maybe Afghans just don’t count.
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IIRC, there have been problems with Afghan army guys turning their weapons on our soldiers for a while.
This incident clearly hasn’t helped. But even if it had never happened, it’s long past time for the departure of our forces.
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You mean other than the seven Afghans already killed in the riots? Or aren’t Afghans real people?
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Doug, please correct this line. Either add “American” before “victims” or note that 7 Afghans have also died. You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?
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Obviously, an apology for these troops’ deaths is in order.
I’m just not sure who should be doing the apologizing. Since the original “offense” was ours, shouldn’t we apologize for this, too?
During the Mohammed cartoons mess, thousands and thousands of Muslims rioted in protest, killing approximately 100 people.
During the Newsweek “Koran flushed down a toilet’ fraud tumult, thousands and thousands of Muslims rioted in protest, and at least 15 people were killed.
Now a couple of books are mishandled (most likely inadvertently, certainly not maliciously) and the body count is already piling up.
Is there a point where we should stop saying “we’re sorry” for catering to irrational beliefs and violence, and instead say “get over it and grow the F up?”
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“Release the Kraken”
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No more Obamagizing!
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Where is the apology to the families of the soldiers?
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US Troops Killed Over Quran Burnings as Obama Apologizes
our president apologized while our soldiers were murdered. burning the QURAN by accident is more important than american and other human lives. SHAME ON HIM. THIS IS NO LEADER OF AMERICA RABBI DR. BERNHARD ROSENBERG
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Even if we show defference to President OBAMA for the apology regarding the ACCIDENTAL buring of the KORAN, we need to get out of AFGHANISTAN NOW. How many more AMERICAN SOLDIERS MUST DIE. ? RABBI DR. BERNHARD ROSENBERG
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