Insurgents still using Quran burning furor to raise Afghans' ire

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Military

Insurgents still using Quran burning furor to raise Afghans' ire

To stoke opposition to US and Afghan troops, insurgents are taking advantage of outrage over the Quran burning threat, says the governor of a strategic Afghan province.

Mustafa Quraishi/AP

Afghans shout anti-US slogans at a protest after morning prayers outside a mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sept. 15.

By Anna Mulrine Staff writer

Sept. 15, 2010, 4:51 p.m. ET | Washington

Insurgents are actively trying to use the threat by a Florida preacher to burn Qurans as leverage against US and Afghan troops, according to the governor of what has been up to recently one of Afghanistan's most violent areas.

Though it is clear to many that the threatened actions of the 50-member church do not 鈥渞epresent the American people,鈥� it nevertheless 鈥渙utraged and made the Muslims in Afghanistan very angry,鈥� said Mohammad Halim Fidal, governor of Wardak Province.

The province, dubbed the gateway to Kabul, is considered strategically important to the US military.

鈥淭hese enemies are trying to use this against our government forces,鈥� he added in a briefing with Pentagon reporters Wednesday morning.

In order to counter such insurgent tactics, a new program is now in place to bring moderate Afghan leaders to Jordan for seminars in order to learn 鈥渁 broader, less radical interpretation of Islam,鈥� Mr. Fidal said.

Some 40 Afghan leaders recently traveled to Jordan to take part in the program, known as the Voices of Moderate Islam, and supported by Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and other charity organizations, he added. 鈥淭his will enable our scholars who went to Jordan,鈥� Fidal explained, 鈥渢o learn about a culture of coexistence and tolerance鈥� and that 鈥渆veryone can live in a peaceful environment despite the differences of opinion.鈥�

Though Afghan religious scholars are the traditional agents of change in the country, 鈥渢he majority of these scholars haven鈥檛 gone outside their village,鈥� according to Fidal. 鈥淭hey are very limited in terms of both knowledge and experience. That鈥檚 why the enemy is trying to use the burning of the Quran as something that has been done by the Jewish or other forces and then associated this with the fighting against insurgents鈥� in Afghanistan.

Concerns about violence come in advance of Saturday鈥檚 parliamentary elections across Afghanistan. Ten polling stations out of the nearly 400 across Wardak will be closed. Officials say that this is a result of logistics and a determination that there were not enough voters in a given area to warrant the station being open.