Hamid Karzai calls on US Congress to condemn pastor's Qur'an burning | World news | The Guardian

 

• Sunday 3 April 2011 18.55 BST

• Article history

 

Hamid Karzai has called on the US Congress to condemn Terry Jones's burning of the Qur'an, which prompted mob killings in Mazar-e-Sharif. Photograph: Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images

The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, appears to have added fuel to the violent protests in Afghanistan after calling on the US Congress to condemn a Christian preacher's burning of the Qur'an.

Karzai's demand came despite a statement from Barack Obama denouncing the behaviour of American pastor Terry Jones as "an act of extreme intolerance and bigotry".

But the Afghan president, in a meeting on Sunday with the US ambassador, Karl Eikenberry, and David Petraeus, the US commander of Nato forces in the country, demanded that the top US lawmaking body should condemn Jones.

The report of the national security council meeting, issued by Karzai's office, highlights the concern of some analysts that the president is pandering to the demands of anti-western protesters rather than attempting to quell violence that has already cost dozens of lives, including the seven UN officials killed by a mob in Mazar-e-Sharif on Friday.

On Sunday violence continued for a second day in the Taliban heartland city of Kandahar, with at least one person killed, while protests also raged in Jalalabad where students blocked a road to Kabul.

Karzai has been bitterly criticised by some for drawing attention to the Qur'an fire in the first place. Though it was largely ignored by the media, Karzai issued a press release on 24 March, four days after the book-burning in Gainsville, Florida, condemning the "crime against a religion and entire Muslim umma [community]". He said the US and UN should "bring to justice the perpetrators of this crime".

Western officials showed their dismay. Petraeus issued a statement with Nato's Kabul ambassador, Mark Sedwill, condemning "any disrespect to the holy Qur'an and Muslim faith".

Jones has claimed the FBI told him a $2.4m bounty had been put on his head in Pakistan. In interviews he said he was "saddened" by the violence.

He had promised in September not to set fire to the book, then he and his congregation discussed shredding, shooting, or dunking it in water instead. Jones said his desire to shed light on the "dangerous book" won out, so the burning was streamed on the internet ,with Arabic subtitles to reach Muslims. "For some of them," he said, "it could be an awakening."