Qur'ans burned in Afghanistan "used to facilitate extremist communications"

By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (Worthy News)-- The qu'rans burned at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan were removed from the library of a detainee center "because of extremist inscriptions," a military official said Tuesday.

There was "an appearance that these documents were being used to facilitate extremist communications," said the unnamed official. "Additionally, some of the documents were extremist in and of themselves, apparently originating from outside of Afghanistan."

After hundreds of muslims protested outside the airfield over reports of the burning, Gen. John Allen, commander of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, issued a directive that "all coalition forces in Afghanistan will complete training in the proper handling of religious materials ..."

The training will include "the identification of religious materials, their significance, correct handling and storage."

Allen said the materials were being collected for disposal from the Parwan detention facility, and were inadvertently burned.

"This was not a decision that was made because they were religious materials," he said. "It was not a decision that was made with respect to the faith of Islam ..."