I know that US Captain Jason Coughenour’s intentions are good: he wants to be respectful to the Afghanis, and avoid enflaming hair-trigger tensions. But it does seem to me that assuring them that if an American did this, he will be punished, just feeds into the idea that rioting and killing, or starting an “uprising,” because of the desecration of a book is a perfectly proportionate and reasonable response.
Would I, then, have them do nothing, and thereby risk an insult to the Afghanis that could cost lives and erode the American position there (whether or not our presence there is really a wise measure for the overall American defense against the global jihad)? No. Maybe there is a third way. Maybe this could be, as they say, a “teachable moment.” Maybe this could be an opportunity for the Americans to explain that yes, they understand how the Afghanis revere the Qur’an, and that they have a policy of respecting that reverence — but that if one individual acts in a way that is not in accord with that policy, it does not harm them, or the Qur’an, or Muhammad, or Allah, and that American good will ought to be readily verifiable all over Afghanistan, in the form of roads, schools, and other gifts of the American presence. And that even if they are insulted, and angered, by this event, if it did occur, to riot and to destroy and to kill in response is not called for, not helpful, not productive.
They could say even more, much more, than that. But they will not even say these things.
An update on this story. “US soldiers burnt Koran: report,” from Agence France-Presse (thanks to JE):
THE US military said it would investigate claims that its soldiers had burnt a copy of the Koran in Afghanistan, as angry locals demanded action and threatened retaliation.
Allegations that troops tore up and burnt the Muslim holy book during a raid in the eastern province of Kunar yesterday led several hundred villagers to demonstrate the same day, blocking a main road for hours.
Locals repeated the charges at a heated meeting today in the provincial capital Asadabad of representatives of the US military, Afghan officials and more than a dozen men from the area near the raid site in Narang district.
“You have desecrated our religion,” resident Azim Khan told the US delegation.
“If the perpetrators do not apologise to Afghans and to all the Muslims of the world, and if they are not brought to justice and punished for what they have done, we will stand against you, you will see an uprising,” he said.
US Captain Jason Coughenour said the allegations would be treated seriously.
“We respect your religion,” he said.
“We will launch an investigation and find out who has burnt the Koran. If it has been done by an American, we will punish him.”