Afghans around Bagram air base are going nuts right now after a number of copies of the Koran were mistakenly sent to the incinerator. Once several locals who were working with the International Security Force (ISF) troops taking care of the incineration realized what was going in there, they alerted the troops and they were removed. According to the Washington Post article several copies were singed, but none were destroyed. The Afghans present then took the charred copies and told other locals.

My understanding is that US forces incinerate lots of stuff, including unclaimed copies of the Bible that Americans love to send over. So I’m sure the soldiers loading the incinerator weren’t paying that close of attention to what was going inside. It’s also quite easy for an administrative error to result in something like this, it’s as simple as a clerk applying the wrong label, selecting the wrong option on a form, or even just not paying attention.

Even if a thousand copies had been destroyed, rioting and intimidation would not have been a rational or symmetrical response. However, considering the fact that as soon as the error had been discovered every step possible was taken to correct it would make rioting completely unjustified.

These people are nuts. I can’t wait until we get our troops out of that backwards land.