Obama Effigy Burned in Kabul After Rumors of Desecrated Koran

Protesters took to the streets of the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday, and burned an effigy of President Obama, after rumors were circulated that U.S. troops had desecrated a copy of the Koran.

U.S. military officials have strongly denied the rumors relating to the supposed burning of a copy of the Koran by American troops, Reuters actually calls them allied troops and does not specify a nationality, during a raid last week in Maidan Wardak province. The officials said that the Taliban had started the rumors in order to stir up hatred against the international force operating in Afghanistan. And whilst those in the crowd which marched to the Afghan Parliament building from Kabul University, the crowd was said to mainly consist of students, were unable to provide specific details of the alleged Koran-burning incident the lack of evidence that such an act had indeed taken place did not prevent the setting fire to an effigy said to represent President Obama or the chanting of anti-American slogans. There were no injuries reported as some of the crowd, which Reuters says numbered thousands but the Los Angeles Times put at 1,000, threw stones at police, who responded by firing warning shots in to the air. With a run-off of the Afghan presidential election due on November 7 and the Taliban threatening to disrupt that run-off there is considerable tension in a country in which religious conservatism is reportedly on the rise. According to the Los Angeles Times even the educated Afghan elite is becoming increasingly conservative in its outlook, hence the large number of students on the streets of Kabul on Sunday. One such student, Zabiullah Khalil, who is studying engineering, is quoted as saying of the alleged desecration of the holy book of Islam:

Muslims were disrespected! The foreigners shot the Koran, and then they burned it. They should be tried for this

Referring to what is viewed as excessive U.S. influence when it comes to the make-up of the Afghan government and the policies it pursues, he added:

We don't want a slave government. We want a real Islamic country

A banner seen at the protest supposedly carried the message "No to democracy. We just want Islam". Investigations by both Afghan officials and officials from the international force in Afghanistan concluded that there was no burning of the Koran. But that has not stopped the rumors spreading or the protests taking place. The protest that took place in Kabul was the largest of its kind to date. In an attempt to calm the situation NATO has issued a statement saying that it "condemns any behavior that disrespects Islam or the people of Afghanistan". After eight years of the conflict in Afghanistan there are seemingly few signs of the country beginning to stabilize, the fraud that took place on August 20, during the election that will shortly be re-run, typifying the instability that prevails. Current President Hamid Karzai and main challenger Abdullah Abdullah, the former Foreign Minister who it was initially thought had been defeated in the August election, have dismissed the idea of a power-sharing agreement, resulting in the run-off vote due in the first week of November.