MIAMI--U.S. military commanders in Afghanistan warned on Monday that a small Florida church's plan to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks could endanger the lives of American troops.
The warnings followed an angry protest on Monday by several hundred people in the Afghan capital, Kabul, who chanted "Death to America" as they denounced the planned burning event by the Gainesville, Florida-based Dove World Outreach Center church.
The center, calling itself a "New Testament, Charismatic, Non-Denominational Church", says it will go ahead with the torching of the Koran on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of the 2001 attacks against the United States. Gainesville authorities have said that will contravene fire safety rules.
Two top U.S. commanders in Afghanistan said the proposed burning of the Muslim holy book risked undermining U.S. President Barack Obama's efforts to reach out to the world's 1.5 billion Muslims. They said it could also trigger retaliation against U.S. forces serving in Afghanistan.
"It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort," General David Petraeus, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, said in a statement to U.S. media organizations.
"It is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems. Not just here, but everywhere in the world, we are engaged with the Islamic community," he added.
Lieutenant-General William Caldwell, commander of the NATO Training Mission in Afghanistan, told CNN the news of the planned Koran burning by the little-known Florida church was already provoking popular anger in Afghanistan. "It's their Holy Book, so when somebody says that they're going to destroy that and cause a desecration to something that's very sacred to them, it's already stirred up a lot of discussion and concern amongst the people," he said.
"We very much feel that this could jeopardize the safety of our men and women that are serving over here," Caldwell added.
In Kabul, the demonstrators, mostly students from religious schools who gathered outside Kabul's Milad ul-Nabi mosque, said they would continue their protests. "We call on America to stop desecrating our Holy Koran," student Wahidullah Nori told Reuters.