Parwan[Afghanistan]: On Wednesday, a senior US commander apologized for dropping controversial leaflets in northern Afghanistan.
According to the news published in Al Jazeera, on Tuesday, pamphlets which contain an image of a white dog with Quranic verses written across its body and a lion chasing it was distributed in Parwan province. “Take back your freedom from the terrorist dogs and cooperate with coalition forces so they can target your enemy and eliminate them,” was also written on the pamphlet.
Major General James Linder, head of the US and NATO forces, apologized and deemed the leaflets highly offensive.
While apologizing, Linder said, “The design of the leaflets mistakenly contained an image highly offensive to both Muslims and the religion of Islam”. He also said that they have the deepest respect for Islam and Muslims worldwide.
Speaking on this, spokesman for Special Operations Forces at Bagram Air Base in Parwan said that investigation for the incident is in progress. However, he refused to release a copy of leaflet.
Meanwhile, Governor of Parwan, Mohammad Hasem said that the incident is unforgivable and demanded that the persons responsible should be held accountable.
Talking to newsmen, Hassiba Efat, a member of the Parwan Provincial Council told, “The leaflets are very offensive to Islam”.
It may be mentioned that the Afghan government and coalition forces have frequently used information campaigns to seek local populations’ help in order to defeat Taliban and other such groups. This is not the first incident of offense committed by US forces in Afghanistan. In 2012, copies of Quran was burned by US army which led to massive protest for many days resulting in the death of 40 people.