THOUSANDS have taken to the streets in different parts of Afghanistan in recent days to protest the reported burning of copies of the Quran at the US airbase in Bagram. A number of people have been killed in clashes between protesters and Afghan security forces. Expectedly, the Taliban have taken advantage of the situation, urging Afghans to attack foreign military bases. Though President Barack Obama has apologised to his Afghan counterpart for the incident, it will do little to assuage the anger of the people. This is not the first time incidents of this sort have been reported involving US military personnel; similar behaviour - specifically desecration of religious texts - has been reported from Iraq and the American military detention facility at Guantanamo, while the video of US Marines urinating on the corpses of what were believed to be Taliban insurgents caused global outrage.

Incidents such as these prove that far from winning hearts and minds in Afghanistan, foreign troops are seen as an occupying force ignorant of local culture and religious sensitivities. What is surprising is that despite over a decade of occupation of a Muslim country, American forces remain insensitive to the implications of such an emotional issue. It would also be fair to ask what 10 years of foreign military presence has given to the troubled country. While some development may have taken place in Kabul, much of the rest of Afghanistan is still bedevilled by violence, with the Taliban far from defeated. Hence the high levels of anti-Americanism, which can trigger responses similar to what we are seeing now. Occupation is the easy part; nation-building is a much more difficult proposition. As seen in the Iraqi and Afghan examples, alienating the population is hardly conducive to advancing geo-strategic goals.