Obama Calls for Tolerance in Afghanistan After UN Mission Attack, Protests

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President Barack Obama called for tolerance in Afghanistan after the burning of a Koran in the U.S. prompted an attack that killed seven United Nations workers and sparked violent anti-U.S. protests in the country.

“Now is a time to draw upon the common humanity we that share,” Obama said in a statement yesterday issued by the White House in Washington. “The desecration of any holy text, including the Koran, is an act of extreme intolerance and bigotry. However, to attack and kill innocent people in response is outrageous.”

The seven UN workers were killed in the city of Mazar-e- Sharif, in northern Afghanistan on April 1. Florida pastor Terry Jones last month oversaw the burning of a Koran, carrying out the act after last year backing away from a threat to torch the Muslim holy book amid U.S. government warnings such an act would hurt Middle Eastern relations.

At least nine people were killed in two days of protests, including a demonstration in the center of the southern city of Kandahar yesterday, the provincial authority said.

Demonstrators stormed a UN compound in Mazar-e-Sharif, killing four Nepalese security guards and three workers from Norway, Romania and Sweden, the UN said.

“No religion tolerates the slaughter and beheading of innocent people, and there is no justification for such a dishonorable and deplorable act,” Obama said about the deaths of the UN workers. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the attacks “cowardly,” adding such acts “cannot be justified under any circumstances.”

Kandahar Protest

Protesters shouted “Death to America” as they spread from the center of Kandahar, Zalmai Ayoubi, a spokesman for the Kandahar province, said by phone yesterday.

“Police had to open fire, aiming their shots in the air, to stop them marching on the United Nations office,” he said. “The police were trying to stop them but they attacked the police.”

Ghulam Yahya Toryalai, a 27-year-old shopkeeper, said he joined the protests to show his anger over the burning.

“A bloody person by the name of Jones insulted our most holy book,” Toryalai said. “He should have been hanged by someone.”

The casualties were all Afghan civilians caught in the protests, Ayoubi said.

Jones oversaw the burning of a Koran at his church in Gainesville, Florida, on March 20, USA Today reported. The burning was done by Wayne Sapp, a colleague of Jones, the newspaper said. Jones threatened last year to burn a copy of the sacred book of Islam on the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S.

Karzai’s Call

Afghan President Hamid Karzai called Ban Ki-moon to express his “grief over the attack” and convey “the sadness of the people and the government of Afghanistan to the mourning families of the victims,” according to a statement from Karzai’s office yesterday.

Munir Ahmad Farhad, a spokesman representing the Balkh province in Mazar-e-Sharif, said the attack was conducted by the Taliban. The group rejects the allegation, its spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said in an interview yesterday.