Kabul:
The top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan warned today that an American church's threat to burn copies of the Muslim holy book the Quran could endanger
US troops in the country and Americans worldwide.
"Images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan - and around the world - to inflame public opinion and incite violence," Gen David Petraeus said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
His comments followed a protest yesterday by hundreds of Afghans over the plans by Gainesville, Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center - an evangelical Christian church that espouses anti-Islam philosophy - to burn copies of the Quran on church grounds to mark the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States that provoked the Afghan war.
Muslims consider the Quran to be the word of God and insist that it be treated with the utmost respect, along with any printed material containing its verses or the name of Allah or the Prophet Muhammad. Any intentional damage or show of disrespect to the Quran is deeply offensive.
In 2005, 15 people died and scores were wounded in riots in Afghanistan sparked by a story in Newsweek magazine alleging that interrogators at the US detention center in Guantanamo Bay placed copies of the Quran in washrooms and had flushed one down the toilet to get inmates to talk. Newsweek later retracted the story.
At yesterday's protest, several hundred Afghans rallied outside a Kabul mosque, burning American flags and an effigy of Dove World's pastor and chanting "death to America."
Members of the crowd briefly pelted a passing US military convoy with stones, but were ordered to stop by rally organisers.
Two days earlier, thousands of Indonesian Muslims had rallied outside the US Embassy in Jakarta and in five other cities to protest the church's plans.
Petraeus warned images of burning Qurans could be used to incite anti-American sentiments similar to the pictures of prisoner abuse at Iraq's Abu Graib prison.
US troops in the country and Americans worldwide.
"Images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan - and around the world - to inflame public opinion and incite violence," Gen David Petraeus said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
His comments followed a protest yesterday by hundreds of Afghans over the plans by Gainesville, Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center - an evangelical Christian church that espouses anti-Islam philosophy - to burn copies of the Quran on church grounds to mark the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States that provoked the Afghan war.
Muslims consider the Quran to be the word of God and insist that it be treated with the utmost respect, along with any printed material containing its verses or the name of Allah or the Prophet Muhammad. Any intentional damage or show of disrespect to the Quran is deeply offensive.
In 2005, 15 people died and scores were wounded in riots in Afghanistan sparked by a story in Newsweek magazine alleging that interrogators at the US detention center in Guantanamo Bay placed copies of the Quran in washrooms and had flushed one down the toilet to get inmates to talk. Newsweek later retracted the story.
At yesterday's protest, several hundred Afghans rallied outside a Kabul mosque, burning American flags and an effigy of Dove World's pastor and chanting "death to America."
Members of the crowd briefly pelted a passing US military convoy with stones, but were ordered to stop by rally organisers.
Two days earlier, thousands of Indonesian Muslims had rallied outside the US Embassy in Jakarta and in five other cities to protest the church's plans.
Petraeus warned images of burning Qurans could be used to incite anti-American sentiments similar to the pictures of prisoner abuse at Iraq's Abu Graib prison.
Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world
