Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 04/2012

The Koran Desecration and the Role of Religion in Conflict

Qamar ul Huda

March 2012

United States Institute of Peace

Abstract

In February 2012, Afghan employees at the Bagram Air Base were enraged to find burnt copies of the Koran and other Islamic writings in the trash. This set off deadly protests throughout the country claiming as many as 41 Afghan lives and the shooting of four American soldiers. There were violent and nonviolent protests in Afghanistan and in several Muslim countries. There were condemnations by heads of states. Immediate apologies were offered by the NATO commander in Afghanistan, General John R. Allen, President Barack Obama, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. As of mid-March, three distinct boards of inquiry are examining the missteps that led to the Koran burning: a joint U.S./Afghan undertaking, a U.S. military investigation with the authority to recommend disciplinary action and an Afghan investigation supervised by a council of religious figures. The desecration of the Koran, and recent killings of 16 Afghan civilians in Kandahar by a U.S. sergeant, brought relations between the U.S. and Afghanistan to a new low as the crisis revealed a layer of unspoken cultural and religious insensitivities and lack of understanding.