Associated Press

United States President Barack Obama has apologised for the burning of copies of the Muslim holy book at a US military base in Afghanistan.

Washington - President Barack Obama apologised on Thursday for the burning of copies of the Qur’an on a US base in Afghanistan as the White House sought to quell spiralling furore among Afghans while also staving off Republican criticism at home.

Obama apologised in a letter to Afghan President Hamid Karzai over the incident in which Afghan workers found charred copies of the Muslim holy book on a military base near Kabul, White House spokesperson Jay Carney told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Carney said the incident, which has sparked angry protests against US and Nato forces in Afghanistan and underscored the divide between many Afghans and the foreign forces who have been there battling the Taliban for a decade, was not intentional.

While Carney said the apology was “wholly appropriate given the sensitivities” about treatment of the Qur’an, he said Obama's primary concern was “the safety of American men and women in Afghanistan, of our military and civilian personnel there”.

The Qur’an burnings could make it even more difficult for US-led Nato forces to win the hearts and minds of Afghans and bring the Taliban to the negotiating table ahead of the withdrawal of most foreign combat troops by the end of 2014.

Only last month, US officials rushed to respond to fallout from a video showing US forces urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

A spokesperson for the Nato-led force said on Wednesday troops involved in the Qur’an-burning incident should have known to check with cultural advisers to determine how to dispose of religious material properly.

The material had been removed from a military detention centre, a US official said, because of concerns that some was extremist and was being used to pass messages among prisoners.

Afghan anger has mounted this week. Muslims consider the Qur’an the literal word of God and treat each copy with deep reverence.

The Taliban has urged Afghans to target foreign military bases and kill Westerners in retaliation for the Qur’an burning at Bagram airfield near Kabul.

On Thursday, a man in an Afghan army uniform killed two American troops in the east, but it was unclear if the shooting was connected to the protests.

Tommy Vietor, another White House spokesman, said US Ambassador Ryan Crocker had delivered the letter from Obama, which was a follow-up to a phone call he had with Karzai earlier in the week to discuss the future of US-Afghan ties.

“In the letter... the president also expressed our regret and apologies over the incident in which religious materials were unintentionally mishandled at Bagram Airbase,” Vietor said.

Afghanistan is demanding that Nato put troops who burned the Qur’an on public trial. Such demands could complicate US diplomats' efforts to nudge a nascent peace process ahead as they try to broker political talks between the Taliban and Afghan government.

As the November US presidential elections approach in which Obama will seek a second term, Carney also attempted to head off criticism from Republicans, who have repeatedly accused Obama of apologising unnecessarily for US actions abroad.

He said those accusations were “wholly false, fallacious and ridiculous”, and pointed out that the administration of Obama's Republican predecessor, president George W. Bush, had apologised when a US soldier shot a Qur’an in Iraq. - Reuters

Read about changes to IOL’s article comments