Image Sources: Wikimedia Common

 

BY KEVIN DONNELLAN

ANCHOR EMILY SPAIN


Even an apology from President Barack Obama doesn’t seem to be enough to quell violence in Afghanistan. NATO soldiers burned qurans at a detention facility in Bagram on Monday — and though the coalition says it was an accident — protests have been escalating since. Euronews reports.

“President Hamid Karzai is appealing for calm as demonstrations take place in Kabul, Bagram and Jalalabad. However the Taliban is calling on people to target military bases and kill foreigners.”

RT says despite the apologies this could do lasting damage to Afghan-U.S. relations.

“Zaid Hamid, a defence analyst at the independent think tank BrassTacks, thinks that the incident is a total nightmare for the Americans, as it may now turn local former allies against them.... ‘This is the worst PR disaster that the Americans could have at this moment...’”

14 people are now dead as a result of the violence, including two U.S. soldiers who died during a protest in Jalalabad. Al Jazeera reports.

“American soldiers fired at them to beat them back, killing two protesters and then we understand an Afghan solider with that team, with those American soldiers, turned his gun on them, killing two American soldiers.”

BBC says Afghan officials are taking a lot of heat.

“The Afghan authorities are being blamed for poor handling of the violence and an intelligence failure in several cases. Critics say security forces have been slow to deploy in the provinces, especially after MPs called for jihad [holy war] on television and local radio stations.”

According to the Associated Press — NATO officials say they’re currently investigating the incident.