15/05/2005
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged the United States on Saturday to prosecute and punish anyone found guilt of desecrating the Koran as anti-U.S. protests flared for a fifth day. Sixteen Afghans have been killed and more than 100 hurt since Wednesday in the worst anti-U.S. protests across Afghanistan since U.S. forces invaded in 2001 to oust the Taliban for harbouring Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network. Newsweek magazine said in its May 9 edition investigators probing abuses at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay found that interrogators "had placed Korans on toilets, and in at least one case flushed a holy book down the toilet." Muslims consider the Koran the literal word of God and treat each book with deep reverence. "If proven that this happened, then we will strongly ask the American government to put on trial and punish whoever is the culprit," Karzai told a news conference. Such sacrilege was unacceptable to every Muslim. The United States has tried to calm global Muslim outrage over the incident, saying disrespect for the Koran was abhorrent and would not be tolerated, and military authorities were investigating the allegation. International Muslim groups in Saudi Arabia also called on the United States to investigate and punish those responsible. The 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference said the report had enraged hundreds of millions of Muslims and would "provide fanatics and extremists with excuses to ... justify their acts of violence and terrorism."
AFGHAN PROTESTS
The anti-U.S. protesters in Afghanistan have also been venting their anger against Karzai, attacking and torching government offices and police stations as well as U.N. and aid group offices. Protests erupted in several parts of the country again on Saturday but apart from some stone-throwing, there was no violence, officials said.
Karzai said foreign hands were behind the disturbances but did not identify them. Most of Afghanistan's neighbors have at one time or another meddled in its affairs. Karzai has called for close defense ties with the United States to prevent such interference. This week's violence was an attack on the country and it would fight the threat as it fought Soviet occupiers in the 1980s, he said. "The three days of violent protests were like a warning that dragons are still at our throat and the enemies of this soil are still active," he said.
GROWING RESENTMENT
Protesters were out on Saturday in the southern town of Spin Boldak, on the border with Pakistan, in neighboring Zabul province, in Farah province in the west and in Badghis in the northwest, officials said. School students threw stones at an aid agency office in Badghis province but no one was hurt, residents said. The protests began in the conservative eastern city of Jalalabad on Tuesday. Violence erupted on Wednesday when four protesters were killed. Clashes occurred in different places on Thursday and Friday. Afghan analysts have said Muslim outrage over the desecration report sparked the protests, not hatred of the United States, but there is growing resentment of U.S. troops, especially in ethnic Pashtun areas of the south and east where they mainly operate. Karzai said U.S. troops had made mistakes, apparently referring to complaints of heavy handed patrolling. The United States commands a foreign force in Afghanistan of about 18,300, most of them American, fighting Taliban insurgents and hunting militant leaders, including bin Laden U.S. and other foreign troops have not been involved in policing the protests.
Karzai also said he would ask U.S. forces to hand over all Afghan prisoners. The United States is holding more than 500 prisoners from its war on terrorism at the Guantanamo Bay naval base on Cuba. Many of them were detained in Afghanistan after U.S.-led troops overthrew the Taliban government in late 2001. U.S. forces are also believed to be holding several hundred Afghans in Afghanistan. (Additional reporting by Dominic Evans in Riyadh) SOURCE: Reuters |
