Protest in Kabul over blasphemous leaflet distributed by US forces

Kabul: The residents of the Qarabagh district of the Kabul city in Afghanistan on Tuesday staged a protest demonstration against the United States forces for distributing a blasphemous leaflet in Parwan, Kapisa and Kohdaman districts.

The protestors have called for the prosecution of those who are involved in distributing the propaganda material that insulted Islam, the Tolo News agency reported.

The protestors, who were waving Afghan flags, blocked the Kabul-north highway for three hours and chanted the slogan 'death to America'.

"We are prepared to sacrifice our lives for the sake of our religion," said one protestor Hekmatullah Haqmal.

"It is better for the US to leave Afghanistan as soon as possible.The US has killed thousands of our brothers since it started the war in Afghanistan 16 years ago," said another protester Saifurrahman Habibi.

"The US has repeatedly insulted our religious values. We can never pardon such blasphemous acts," said protestor Ghulam Jailani.

The protestors have also issued an eight item declaration.

"If the government does not abide by its legal responsibility regarding the issue, the Muslim nation of Afghanistan and its people will do anything they want to secure their religious values. The people of Qarabagh reiterate calls for coalition forces to stop patrolling in Qarabagh in order to prevent civilian casualties," part of the declaration read.

However, the US military in Afghanistan has already apologised for the incident.

The leaflets, which sparked a furore among the people, contained an image of a dog along with Islamic verses - containing the Taliban flag.

Earlier, the insurgent group, Taliban, had claimed the responsibility for the explosion that took place near the Bagram airfield, saying it was retaliation for the US distributing propaganda material that insulted Islam.