Chanting "Death to America," a crowd protests outside the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan.<br/> <br />About two thousand Afghans came in anger after a report that foreign troops inside had disposed of copies of the Koran and other religious items.<br/> <br />SOUNDBITE) (Dari) ANTI U.S PROTESTER, HAJI SHIRIN, SAYING:<br/> <br />"We Afghans don't want these Jewish infidels - they are the enemy of our soil, our honour and our Koran. I urge all Muslims to sacrifice themselves in order to pull out these troops from this soil."<br/> <br />U.S. helicopters fired flares to try to break up the demonstrators.<br/> <br />And NATO's top general in Afghanistan, General John Allen, tried to contain the fury, promising an investigation into what happened.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (English) GENERAL JOHN ALLEN, INTERNATIONAL SECURITY ASSISTANCE FORCE (ISAF)<br/> <br />"This was unintentional. There was no intention by anyone at ISAF to defame the faith of Islam, to desecrate the precious religious materials of this faith."<br/> <br />The incident could be a public relations disaster for the U.S. military as it tries to pacify the country ahead of the withdrawal of foreign combat troops in 2014.<br/> <br />Katharine Jackson, Reuters.
