Protests in Afghanistan

The furious Afghan protests against the heinous crime of Quran burning inside the US-controlled Bagram airbase have spread far and wide, causing extensive loss of life. While dozens of Afghan have been killed, the losses on the side of the Americans and its allies are no less substantial. Not that the invading troops are the only target of the angry Afghans, whatever the Western allies are doing in the name of improving the governance capacity is at risk of coming to naught. Even at the official level, the mutual trust and confidence has increasingly deteriorated. The advisors attached with various governments are being withdrawn, some back to their countries and others confined to protected premises of their embassies and military bases. And the protests are not confined to the so-called Taliban heartland regions; there are reports of protestors attacking Isaf forces' facilities in Northern Afghanistan. President Obama's apology and President Karzai's call to normalcy have been ignored. Taliban have claimed responsibility for the protests, especially for the killing of an American colonel and his colleagues in a highly-secured place. Given that the burning of the holy book is too provocative to be tolerated by any Muslim, radical or normal, anywhere in the world, the wave of unrest is causing ripples all over the region, with anti-US rallies being held in Pakistan also. The mischief committed at Bagram airbase was underestimated by the culprits. Those who think a presidential apology would do are grossly ignorant of the hurt caused to the Muslims - their ignorance perhaps drawing sustenance from the un-repented sacrilege of the Quran at the Guantanamo prison. Or, perhaps the humiliation the American troops inflict on their incarcerated or killed enemies has generally been overlooked if not condoned by the so-called civilised nations. Even if it is accepted that President Obama is really concerned over the Bagram happening, how to put up with the wannabe Republican candidates for the United States highest office? In not too unambiguous terms they have condoned the crime, insisting President Karzai should apologise to the American people for the killing of Americans in uniform. What we see increasingly exposed is a mindset feeding on the Crusade spirit in the United States. Be it Vietnam or Iraq or Afghanistan these modern-day Romans have no respect for others' faith and culture and their call for protection of human rights is patently pretentious and fake. Having perpetrated enormous human tragedy in Afghanistan there is no stopping such sacrilegious and disgraceful behaviour that is a grave offence to the Afghans' religious beliefs and their rights as an equal people. At the same time it would be naïve to think that after the burning of the Quran within the high-security precincts of the Bagram airbase, the resentment it has caused is not going to impact the political and military environs that could ensure the Isaf forces' less treacherous retreat from Afghanistan. Not only the incident tends to strengthen the Taliban position on the negotiating table, their moral stance likely to get wider Afghan support, it is bound to put Islamabad on the back foot also. The people of Pakistan are no less angered over the incident, making it much harder for the government to move on with its plan to restore the Pak-US co-operative relationship to its original framework. And in the future there is nothing much to hope that would happen, with the Republican leaders baying for Obama's blood over his "overreacting" to this "inadvertent mistake". The burning of the holy book by American soldiers was by no means inadvertent, in fact, it is a vindication of Samuel Huntington's 'Clash of Civilisations' - with Muslims their civilisation being their religion. Copyright Business Recorder, 2012