Kabul, September 07: 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.
–Agencies