Tipsheet

Karzai Investigator: Americans "Intentionally" Burned Koran

Afghan President Karzai is calling for U.S. military members responsible for the inadvertent burning of Korans and other religious materials on Bagram Air Base a few weeks ago to stand trial in Afghanistan. Since the burning, his country has been one big riot with Afghan soldiers murdering U.S. troops in cold-blooded revenge. Now, an investigator hired by Karzai to investigate the incident is calling the burning of Korans intentional, despite an apology from President Obama and the U.S. military saying otherwise. Once again, whose side is Karzai on?

The burning of the Qur’an at a US military base in Afghanistan was intentional, a member of the investigating team told dpa Monday.

“We believe it is intentional,” said Maulavi Khaliqdad, a member of the panel established by President Hamid Karzai.

“If they burnt one or two copies, then we could have said it could have been a mistake. But they took hundreds of such books to burn. Everyone knew those were religious books.”

News that US soldiers in Bagram airbase north of Kabul had burnt copies of religious books including Qur’an last month caused violent protests nationwide.
 

And if you thought things were "calm" before, they're about to get a whole lot worse.


International military officials apologized and said it was “unintentional.” US President Barack Obama also sent a written apology to Karzai.

But despite apologies and calling for calm by Karzai, more than 30 protesters were killed in the ensuing violence.

Six US soldiers were also killed in apparent revenge attacks by their Afghan allies, including two US military advisers who were murdered inside the fortified Interior Ministry building.