REUTERS.COM: Senior Afghan clerics said on Friday the burning of Korans at a NATO base last month was an "evil act" that must be punished, a demand that could deepen widespread public anger over the incident.
"The council strongly condemns this crime and inhumane, savage act by American troops by desecrating holy Korans," members of a council of clerics said after meeting President Hamid Karzai, according to a statement issued by his office.
"The council emphasized that the apology for this evil act can never be accepted. Those who committed this crime must be publicly tried and punished."
Despite apologies from President Barack Obama and other senior U.S. officials, the desecration of the Korans at Bagram air base ignited a wave of anti-Western fury across Afghanistan, including protests that killed 30 people.
The Koran burnings are a setback to the Western campaign to win the hearts and minds of Afghans in order to weaken the Taliban and force the Muslim militant group to negotiate an end to the war now in its 11th year. » | Hamid Shalizi | KABUL | Friday, March 02, 2012
