U.S. military says Afghan bibles have been destroyed

KABUL (Reuters) - Bibles in Afghan languages sent to a U.S. soldier at a base in Afghanistan were confiscated and destroyed to ensure that troops did not breach regulations which forbid proselytizing, a military spokeswoman said.

The U.S. military has denied its soldiers tried to convert Afghans to Christianity, after Qatar-based Al Jazeera television showed soldiers at a bible class on a base with a stack of bibles translated into the local Pashto and Dari languages.

U.S. Central Command's General Order Number 1 forbids troops on active duty -- including all those based in Iraq and Afghanistan -- from trying to convert people to another religion.

"I can now confirm that the Bibles shown on Al Jazeera's clip were, in fact, collected by the chaplains and later destroyed. They were never distributed," spokeswoman Major Jennifer Willis said at Bagram air base, north of Kabul.
ad_icon

Military officials have said the bibles were sent through private mail to an evangelical Christian soldier by his church back home. The soldier brought them to the bible study class where they were filmed.

Trying to convert Muslims to another faith is a crime in Afghanistan. An Afghan man who converted to Christianity was sentenced to death for apostasy in 2006 but was allowed to leave the country after an international uproar.

"It certainly is, from the United States military's perspective, not our position to ever push any specific kind of religion, period," chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen told a Pentagon briefing Monday.

Kabul, 7 May (AKI) - The Taliban on Thursday threatened "harsh reprisals" if Pope Benedict XVI does not immediately intervene to stop Christians proselytising in Afghanistan. In a message posted on their official website, the Taliban made the threat against the pope and Christians for spreading their faith.

The message followed video footage aired on Arabic satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera earlier this week apparently showing Christian soldiers proselytising outside the Afghan capital, Kabul, and handing out copies of the bible in Pashtun.

"We are sending out a message to the most important personality in the Christian world - Pope Benedict XVI," read the message.

"If he does not immediately stop these stupid and irresponsible acts of proselytism by the crusaders, our reprisals and that of the Afghan people will be very harsh.

"Afghans are offended by this," the message said.

The message claimed that dozens of Christian missionaries are proselytising in Afghanistan under the guise of humanitarian non-governmental organisations.

It also said these groups are collaborating directly with American and other foreign troops in Afghanistan.

"They are taking advantage of the war and of needy Afghans, who are driven towards the religious deviance of these groups," it said.

The message cited as examples the "apostate" Abdel Rahman who converted to Christianity and gained asylum in Italy and a group of 23 South Korean missionaries kidnapped by the Taliban in July 2007.

It called on Afghans, especially religious leaders and intellectuals, to "repel the attacks on their faith which prolong the crusader war started by (former US president George W.) Bush".

Religious leaders and mujahadeen (holy warriors) must keep tabs on the movements of "enemies of Islam" and crusader occupiers" and prevent them from spreading "the propaganda of other religions in the land of Islam," the message said.

"All the supporters of (Afghan president) Hamid Karzai's regime, especially the courts the justice and Islamic affairs ministries must apologise and condemn these crusader acts.

"They must no longer allow them to take up arms against us, thus redeeming themselves before Allah," the message concluded.

Violence in Afghanistan in the past year has reached its highest level since the Taliban was overthrown in 2001, despite increasing numbers of American and other foreign troops.

Trying to convert Muslims to any other faith is a crime in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan has seen bloody demonstrations in recent years after cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad were published in Denmark and after allegations emerged that US troops in Guantanamo Bay mistreated the Koran.