The Taliban have urged all Afghans to move beyond “mere protests” and attack US military personnel throughout the country for burning copies of the Koran. The Taliban’s call has been echoed by some members of parliament.
“We should not be satisfied with mere protests and empty slogans but the military bases of the invaders, their military convoys and their troops should become a target of our courageous attacks,” said a statement that was released today on Voice of Jihad, the Taliban’s official website, and signed by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
“Kill them, beat them, take them as prisoners and teach them such a lesson that they never summon the courage to abuse the Holy Quran again,” the statement continued.
“The target of revenge of the protestors should only be the American occupiers, their facilities and properties and not those of the ordinary people,” the Taliban said.
The Taliban statement also urged Afghans to target members of the Afghan government and security forces who protect NATO forces during protests. The Taliban described these Afghans as “the despicable backers of the invaders who have turned a blind eye towards the unforgiving crime of the infidels due to their cowardice and as defense of them….”
Finally, the Taliban urged “all the Muslims of the world, their governments and people, religious officials of the two sacred mosques [Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia] and the religious centers of Darul Uloom Deoband [in India] and Al Azhar [in Egypt], as part of their religious obligation and fervor to take a united stand against the desecration of our common book by the American aggressors. Condemn their unforgivable crime both practically and verbally and back the legitimate struggle of the Muslim Afghans against them.”
The Taliban’s incitement to attack US forces takes place as the terror group is negotiating with the US to reach a political settlement to the Afghan war. But Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s official spokesman, told AFP that the call to attack US forces will not impede negotiations.
“We condemn the desecration of the Holy Koran in the strongest terms, but this issue will not affect this process in Qatar,” Mujahid said.
Some members of the Afghan parliament have echoed the Taliban’s rhetoric and urged Afghans to wage “jihad” against the “invaders.”
“Americans are invaders, and jihad against Americans is an obligation,” said Abdul Sattar Khawasi, a member of parliament from Parwan province, The New York Times reported. The Koran-burning incident took place at Bagram airbase in Parwan.
“Standing with about 20 other members of Parliament, Mr. Khawasi called on mullahs and religious leaders ‘to urge the people from the pulpit to wage jihad against Americans,'” The New York Times article stated.
During the three days since the incident, protests have spread throughout Afghanistan, and a number of them have been violent, according to Reuters. In Nangarhar province, an Afghan soldier shot and killed two US soldiers and wounded two others, Tolo News reported.
28 Comments
Maybe we should be targeting members of parliment as well as the Taliban, if they are going to call for our deaths!
Should our President really be apologizing over this? Does apologizing for what was an error and promising punishment for an error make good strategic sense. It is about time the muslim street wakes up to the fact that this behavior is immature and reckless.
when do the muslims apologise for terrorism,child sex,intolerance,preaching hatred etc?
I don’t know if Pres. Obama should’ve apologized to the Afghan people in this case but I do know that it was unbelievably stupid this incident happened. Two US soldiers killed over this is two too many and I lay their deaths at feet of the superiors who directed the burning of the Korans. Just how difficult is it to get the message across, top to bottom: don’t mess with their Koran. The other is don’t mess with their women (as in night raids) but that’s another ball of wax. Americans keep bumbling from one war to another seemingly oblivious to the main cultural and religious values of the civilians in countries they claim to want to help. To think there are already serious rumblings about going into Iran. Oy veh.
This is but additional proof that the ummah is not ever going to accept Marshall Plan type of economic aid.
If the burned korans weren’t a plant…
You’re still going to have Westerners dumb enough to run afoul of their Neolithic sensibilities.
We’ve seen that repeatedly.
It happened to the Russians, too.
And before that, to the British.
We need to get our hostages / ISAF out of common contact.
We need to realize that the entire focus of our war belongs with the permitting powers: Pakistan at the top of the list.
I’d wind down ALL civilian projects tout suite.
Like Iraq and Libya, the President turning the ball over on downs.
Even punting beats that.
In the big scheme of things this isn’t really that big of a deal unless of course one happens to be one of the few that gets killed over this incident. Within 2 to 4 weeks this whole koran burning will have been forgotten.
One thing is certain is that the 20 Parliamentarians that chose to make a statement along with Khawasi did the Intel people in Afghanistan a favor by going public with their views. Out of 350 plus Parliamentarians & only 20 show up to complain is pretty revealing also.
All very good comments. I am very tired of the U. S. being the ones apologizing. I am very tired of our own press refusing to print the truth about the murder and terrorism conducted by or enemy’s and ignoring the good things were doing.
“The Taliban’s incitement to attack US forces takes place as the terror group is negotiating with the US to reach a political settlement to the Afghan war.”
I had hoped some body knew what they were doing but it seems obvious for what ever reason they don’t. It also seems obvious were going to cut and run so why wait.
JJH above states ” It is about time the Muslim street wakes up to the fact that this behavior is immature and reckless.” Looks like we wont be the teacher.
it was insensitive to burn the korans…maybe the military garbage collectors should be required to take some sensitivity classes when in basic training.
but then again the thought crossed my mind that the my son (who’s in the midst of his 6th deployment to afghanistan) to me the locals collect the garbage and take it to the burn pits. if so, maybe the taliban infiltrated the garbage collection crews and threw them into the burn pit to get the locals worked up.
The Afghan government is so afraid of retribution by the populace that often they find themselves revealing their true colors. And as for the Taliban’s propaganda campaign, is only effective with those that don’t know the facts. Bottom line, let us do what we do best, eliminate those who threat not only us but also the Afghan people that want a change.
Apologizing to these people,whose minds inahabit the seventh century,is very counterproductive,in my opinion.
Then again, the governing class in this country have no ability to understand the real world in the 21st century,much less the seventh.
No one got their jollies more than the main stream media, who appears to get their jollies when they can blame the USA military.
It was a regrettable mistake,however,why has so little been said,by the sniveling cowards,who make up the vast majority of the MSM,when it comes to the intolerance by the Saudis when it comes to allowing the Bible to be permitted to entered the “Kingdom of Shame”
Unfortunately this article by Bill, represents no surprise. Most in the USA,especially the dimwits that make up the bulk of the MSM, haven’t even the most elementary understanding of Islamic lunatics.
ISAF can turn this on its head. The next time a mosque is blown up by Taliban et al why are our Afghani agent provocateurs not out there in kabul inciting riots against the Taliban because 200 or so korans were destroyed when the Mosque burnt down. This should be done everytime a religious leader or place of worship is destroyed or attacked. I would argue Afghani anger is over this incident is too extreme but to some extent justified, lets use it to our advantage!
Where are our Psyops on this the Taliban seem to be able to influence and direct the peoples anger so easily and we seem to just let it happen. We must win the war of propaganda.
What I find ironic is that Korans where probably from the BFT. The hotel run by ISAF- that provides 3 meals a day, prayer time, education classes, and other benefits to Afghan insurgents that have been detained for killing or attempting to kill our troops.
I would demand condolence payments for all the US Services Members that have been killed by the ANSF. They should be required to travel to the US, meet the families and make the payments in person. Oh yeah- bring some goats also.
Time to go, but on the way out we need to a hit series of selected targets in Pakistan, let Karzi and our dip weed State Department reps talk to the remaining rubble.
The reason teh AFG’s are out and protesting/killing Americans is that they can. Once a mosque is blown up by the taliban the normal public in AFG wouldnt dare protest this. They’d be killed by the taliban………..thats why the Americans are easy prey. Americans dont willfully kill or injure innocents. Koran burning was a mistake made by exhuasted and overwhelmed young people. Individuals who kill others because of this are murderers period. This isnt going to get better, and there are no easy answers to AFG. Let SOF do the job by educating those who are willing and removing others from the planet that dont. Then leave. If we get attacked again (9/11). Bomb the xxxx out of Iran and Pakis without remorse or quarter and make it very punitive in nature. That is understood in that part of the world and it works.
NATO is continuously committing blasphemy against Islam and is playing with the emotions of Muslims. We strongly detest this profane act of NATO.The desecration of our Holy Quran by NATO is an act that depicts the infidelity of NATO forces.The Americans and UN are the most intolerant people and institutions on this planet. They deceive people through their hypocrisy and diplomatic rhetoric. We should start understanding the fact whatever they do they do it for some purpose.
We need to get out of nation building business.
We need to stop trying to police the world.
Get out of all these senseless wars.
Bring our troops home and lets focus on the problems here at home.
American soldiers commit errors, accidently burn the Quran and the Afghanies get mad, kill 2 of our soldiers, riot and shout death to America, etc.
Taliban and Al Queda purposely attack and kill muslims( I guess the mosque and other places that they bomb and burn have no Qurans in them) and the people just act normal.
If America could put our people to work that are here, our troops would have been home.
American soldiers commit errors, accidently burn the Quran and the Afghanies get mad, kill 2 of our soldiers, riot and shout death to America, etc.
Taliban and Al Queda purposely attack and kill muslims( I guess the mosque and other places that they bomb and burn have no Qurans in them) and the people just act normal.
If America could put our people to work that are here, our troops would have been home.
We as a nation rejected the regret expressed by NATO and warned that the action would have grave consequences. NATO is continuously committing blasphemy against Islam and is playing with the emotions of Muslims. We strongly detest this profane act of NATO.The desecration of our Holy Quran by NATO is an act that depicts the infidelity of NATO forces.
Elsie, how do you know their “superiors” ordered them to burn the Korans? You are not here and have no clue what goes down in those facilities. Burning the Koran is an acceptable way of getting rid of the Koran if the Koran has been desecrated. Our Soldiers did not desecrate those books. Take your average American Soldier or just your average American and show them two identical books written in Arabic. They will not know which one is the Koran. Our Soldiers receive sensitivity training and no superior would ever order Soldiers to committ such an act. I guarantee you, the Koran was desecrated before the Soldiers inadvertently burned them. On another note, the Afghan populace (majority of them) cannot even read the Koran. They are fed lies by Mullahs who have alterior motives. They act on those lies because they are mis-informed. Should the burning have happened? No, but I will always give the benefit of the doubt to our boys!
We could have said that these Korans had incorrect passages. Make a few burnt copies evidence that we tried to destroy what we found when we recognized the error in the printing. Make it into the question: “Would you prefer we correct the religious text or give out hundreds of ‘kooky korans’?” This could easily have been turned into a psy-op to make people question the korans being read by “the enemy”. In other words, sometimes the truth is not crazy enough to believe.
I agree with gentleman who commented that the Taliban would intentionally throw the Korans into the garbage for the desired effect by the mindless population. Also, thank your son from all of us for his scarifice
http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/25/10504899-gunman-kills-two-us-army-officers-in-afghan-interior-ministry
Is this the response to the call from some members of the Afghan Gov. Its a tragety and our prayers go to their families… God Bless
The problem here is that Afghanistan is not being run like a colony or protectorate. What kind of idiotic self-hating Western system of war allows the installation of duplicitous and outright hostile officials in the subjugated country?
The introduction of democracy in a country that hates your polity will naturally result in opposition.
America must remember that it went to Afghanistan to punish it and eradicate terrorism, and realize that it came into possession of the country, which it unwisely gave away. The solution would be to take military control of the administration and replace all anti-Coalition forces with loyalists to the new government.
The communist government left behind in Afghanistan survived for quite a while on its own with just support.
Every time a similar set of events occur, I ask why has there never been any similar reaction when one sect destroys/bombs/burns another sect’s mosques.
I agree with a previous poster that every time such a sect-on-sect event occurs, that this needs to be pushed.
Ask how many copies of the Koran were damaged every damn time and press and press until there is an answer. If they say it does not matter, then press on that even more.
zeissa…you make me lMAO.
Because Afghanistan harbored terrorism the Country is in the Penalty BOX.
The penalty box…do you not understand American will never leave until we feel safe our Country won’t be attacked by terrorists.
Burning the korans is just bump in the road…get over it!
PS…
@Zeissa…the Pakis and Afghanis are nothing more than uneducated (mindless) souls who can’t get out of their own way.
Pakistan folk dump Korans in sewage ditch and no one riots.
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2012/02/horror-pakistanis-desecrate-holy-korans-in-smelly-sewage-ditch-video/
@sports – since you’re talking about the “uneducated”, an “afghani” is the name of their currency. The Afghan people are called AFGHANS.