Beyond the Book that Burned

The Koran-burning incident in Afghanistan highlights the continued influence and troubling hypocrisy of the Taliban.

Do you order righteousness of the people and forget yourselves while you recite the Scripture? Then will you not reason?

        – Koran 2:44

When coalition soldiers at Bagram Airfield in northeastern Afghanistan recently burned copies of the Koran, it was almost certainly inadvertent and isolated. There appears to be no evidence that the incident – where discarded copies of the Muslim holy book were thrown into the base’s “burn pit” – in any way reflects NATO policy, and U.S. President Barack Obama apologized immediately and unequivocally. But while it was most certainly culturally insensitive (not to mention stupid), a more reflective and pointed apology than what was offered would have included the additional assertion that the burning of any book should be condemned. This is particularly important given the fact that it is the Taliban – who once ruled Afghanistan and remain a disturbingly potent voice – who are truly bent on the destruction of (non-Islamic) knowledge.

As author Heinrich Heine wrote (originally in German) in 1821, “Where they burn books, they will end in burning people.” Germany’s National Socialists, for instance, famously burned thousands of books that they deemed “un-German”: All non-German (in reality, non-Nazi) literature, philosophy, and fiction was deemed impure and thus subject to “cleansing.” It is not superfluous to point out that Heine’s words are particularly chilling in this case.

Afghanistan’s Taliban government may have stopped short of systematically burning people, but the regime’s social policies were severe. In the early 1990s, in an attempt to restore order following the chaos of the Cold War, the Taliban sought to eliminate all non-Islamic knowledge, destroying libraries, collections of film and music, and artwork. In 1998, Taliban forces destroyed the contents of the famous Nasir-i Khusraw Foundation – a symbol of plurality, culture, and religious tolerance. In the heat (forgive the pun) of the moment, the perpetrators reportedly even burned a 1,000-year-old Koran. In addition, women were effectively made prisoners in their own society, forbidden to walk alone or be uncovered in public; education was restricted to men only; and an extreme version of Sharia law ruled the land. In every conceivable way, non-Islamic (including non-Sunni) knowledge was systematically obliterated.

In 2001, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the U.S-led NATO mission dethroned the Taliban. But even as coalition troops seized control of Afghanistan’s major centres, the Taliban’s “government-in-exile” remained influential. As the conflict has persisted, Afghans’ relationship with (and perception of) their foreign occupants has ebbed and flowed, and the reaction to the recent Koran-burning highlights the presence of deep-seeded resentment on the part of many. Predictably, Obama’s apology has had little success in abating the violent protests that ensued, and reports currently estimate more than 30 deaths as a result.

The scale of the reaction highlights the continued tension between Afghans and their “liberators,” but also reminds us of the ever-present influence of the Taliban, which condemned the burnings and urged all Muslims to turn their guns on Americans and NATO soldiers. In essence, remnants of a fanatical and oppressive regime, which sought the destruction of “offensive” materials with the utmost intensity, are now instructing the people of Afghanistan to riot and kill American troops because copies of the Koran were (however insensitively) burned inadvertently. While the response was expected, it is disheartening to think that the irony is lost on the Afghan public as droves of irate protesters fill the streets of Kabul, Kandahar, and beyond.

Afghans are squaring a very big circle by failing to see the Taliban’s hypocrisy. The Koran’s status as the Muslim holy book does not change the fact that selective condemnation of the destruction of Islamic writings aligns them with a group of extremists that advocates for a society in which the Koran would be all they have.

I want to be clear about one thing: For all its faults and cultural faux pas, NATO is, at its core, qualitatively different than the Taliban. I hope even the most adamant cultural relativists can see that. Under the NATO occupation (and it is an occupation), Afghanistan’s future is highly uncertain, but, at the very least, the concept of a future exists, whereas the Taliban are, almost by definition, living in the past.

Last week, The New York Times quoted an Afghan protester who reflected on the NATO mission and the significance of the Koran burnings: “This is not just about dishonoring the Koran, it is about disrespecting our dead and killing our children ... They always admit their mistakes ... They burn our Koran and then they apologize. You can’t just disrespect our holy book and kill our innocent children and make a small apology.” To be sure, the 10-year-plus conflict has not been perfect, and the burning of Korans is just one slight in a sea of “insensitivities” endured by Afghans since 2001. The protester is right that, after a while, apologies begin to ring hollow. It bears remembering, however, that the Taliban failed to even feign remorse for their actions.

Photo courtesy of Reuters.