Nine More Die As Afghan Protests Against Koran Burning Spread

The spark that was lit when Terry Jones burned a Koran a few weeks ago has turned into a conflagration:

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Violent protests over the burning of a Koran in Florida flared for a second straight day, with young men rampaging through the streets of this southern capital, flying Taliban flags and wielding sticks.

Nine people were killed and 81 injured in the disturbances, all from bullet wounds, according to Abdul Qayoum Pakhla, head of the provincial health department. One of the dead was a police officer. Kandahar has long been the heartland of the Taliban insurgency but has been relatively quiet in recent months since a surge of additional American troops arrived here.

The protests here came a day after a mob overran the headquarters of the United Nations in Mazar-i-Sharif Friday, killing 12 persons, seven of them international staff. The mob gathered after three mullahs at Friday Prayer urged action in response to the Koran burning by a pastor, Terry Jones, in Florida on March 20.

In Kandahar, several thousand young men, shouting slogans calling for death to Americans and to the Karzai government, were still rioting after several hours on Saturday, setting tires aflame throughout the city, burning cars and attacking journalists trying to cover the disorder. Shops and businesses were closed and most people stayed off the street. Many of the protesters were waving the white flag of the Taliban.

Police said that some of the protestors were armed, and Afghan authorities used live ammunition on occasion to quell the disturbances, which continued all day. Of the 16 arrested, seven were armed, officials said.

Zalmai Ayoubi, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the rioters attacked the Zarghona Ana High School for Girls, burning some classrooms and a school bus. The school is supported by the United States Agency for International Development. The Taliban have opposed girls’ education.

A spokesman for the American military in Kandahar, Lt. Col. Web Wright, said relatively small crowds were involved in the disturbances, with the biggest group of about 100 demonstrators gathered outside the governor’s offices. So far, no coalition military had been targeted. “If we need to get involved we will, but now we’re content to let the Afghan national security forces handle it,” he said.

Although Mazar-i-Sharif has little or no Taliban presence, Kandahar has significant numbers of residents who sympathize with the insurgents.

There were also demonstrations over the Koran burning on Friday and Saturday in Kabul, and on Friday in Herat, in eastern Afghanistan. Both were peaceful and lightly attended.

You might wonder how people in Afghanistan were even aware 0f something that happened half a world away three weeks ago. Well you can thank our man in Kabul for that:

Both Afghan and international news media had initially played down or ignored the action of Mr. Jones, the Florida pastor. This Thursday, however, President Hamid Karzai made a speech and issued statements condemning the Koran burning and calling for the arrest of Mr. Jones for his actions. On Friday that theme was picked up in mosques throughout Afghanistan.

There is no provision in American law for arresting anyone for burning a Koran, or for that matter a Bible, which the courts would consider protected free speech.

“Karzai brought this issue back to life, and he has to take some responsibility for starting this up,” said a prominent Afghan businessman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of concern over retribution if he was publicly critical of the president.

“Karzai’s speech itself provoked people to take such actions,” said Qayum Baabak, a political analyst in Mazar-i-Sarif. “Karzai should have called on people to be patient rather than making people more angry.”

Thanks for nothing, Hamid for pouring gasoline on the fire that “Pastor” Jones had lit.

 

FILED UNDER: Asia, World Politics, , , , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Tano says:

    I realize that Doug and James are two independent people, but it does seem odd that the message emerging from OTB today is that Terry Jones has no culpability in this matter at all, even though he performed the provocative action, whereas Hamid Karzai does have culpability because he denounced the provocation.

    To be clear, I think James’s post is by far the more problematical one here.

  2. matt says:

    I never liked Hamid Karzai and he seems determined to continue to behave in the manner that elicited my initial dislike…

  3. Karzai, huh? Well, I’m not surprised.

    With friends like Karzai, who needs enemies.

  4. Brett #2 says:

    I suspect the people involved in the rioting were looking for a reason to riot, even if they weren’t consciously doing so. At least this time, it seems to only be happening in Afghanistan, and hasn’t led to a whole bunch of worldwide protests like the Danish Cartoons issue.

    It’s not the first time that there have been protests surrounding supposed desecration of the Quran in Afghanistan. I remember there were some small protests a year or two back over the supposed destruction of a Quran by soldiers.

  5. tom p says:

    let me see here… some one goes out of his way to piss off several million people…. and we are not able to commend the restraint of these people who only killed 9??? (most of whom were probably muslim)

    Jesus H Fnnn Chr*st……

    What world do you people live in?

    Can you at least look at the stupid mf’er who instigated this incident and say:

    “YOU STUPID MF”ER…. SHUT THE F UP!!!! WE DON”T NEED YOUR HELP!!!”

  6. TG Chicago says:

    @Brett #2:

    I suspect the people involved in the rioting were looking for a reason to riot, even if they weren’t consciously doing so. At least this time, it seems to only be happening in Afghanistan, and hasn’t led to a whole bunch of worldwide protests like the Danish Cartoons issue.

    Or perhaps it was because Hamid Karzai went out of his way to make sure his people were aware and incensed over the stunt.

    Have leaders of other Muslim states done this? Seems like some of them would want to talk about something which gets the heat off themselves.

  7. Christian says:

    The most important thing to take from this – – – these people are immigrating INTO OUR COUNTRY! They are not a threat to us as long as they are in their own countries.

    So what is wrong with the White man that we allow Muslims to come here. Isn’t it bad enough that we let the jew in?