Yesterday's news that copies of the Koran had been burnt at the military base at Bagram made my heart sink, a feeling compounded by ongoing reports of trouble breaking out here in Kabul and in Jalalabad. After all of these years of international military presence in Afghanistan, and so many incidents from which to learn, how could anyone be so stupid to do such a thing?
For those of us who are here for longer than the typical 6 or 12 month tour of duty and are trying to engage with our Afghan hosts in a constructive way, this kind of behaviour is the cause of immense frustration. Every such incident makes it that little bit more difficult to do the job for which we are paid.
I hope that the vast majority of foreigners in Afghanistan (including the military leadership) would absolutely condemn this latest act of desecration, and I imagine that most find it hard to understand why it happened in the first place. But a little bit more cultural sensitivity would remove the need for the General's after the event hand-wringing.
It is quite possible that somebody will die today because of what has been done, what is there to be said?
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