WASHINGTON: American soldiers tried to burn 500 copies of the holy Quran as part of a bungled security sweep at an Afghan prison in February despite repeated warnings from Afghan soldiers that they were making a colossal mistake, according to the US investigative report released on Monday (partly reported in Tuesday’s Dawn).

The number of copies of the holy book taken to an incinerator at Bagram air base, 50 kilometres north of Kabul, was far greater than the US military earlier acknowledged in its accounts of an act of desecration that triggered riots across Afghanistan. The incident is also thought to have played a partial role in an ensuing increase in attacks against Nato troops by Afghan soldiers and police.

A series of miscommunications, poor guidance and soldiers’ decisions to take “the easy way instead of the right way” resulted in the burning of holy Quran and other religious books at Afghanistan’s Bagram base early this year, the US military investigation released on Monday concluded.

Despite demands from Afghan officials that the American troops be placed on trial over the Quran desecration, US officials decided against filing criminal charges. Instead, the army announced it had taken less serious disciplinary action against six soldiers for what they described as unintentional  — if costly — mistakes.

The US army did not release the names of the six soldiers because they received only unspecified administrative punishment and did not face criminal charges. A navy sailor was also investigated, but officials said disciplinary measures were dropped in that case.

The investigation, however, cited evidence of a jarring lack of religious awareness and cultural training among the US troops. The reportsaid that before their deployment in Afghanistan, the troops were exposed to only an hour-long PowerPoint presentation about Islam.

Although they were aware that the Quran was a holy text, the report said, they were unaware of the extreme cultural offence their mishandling could cause.

Information about the desecration of holy Quran has been widely known for months, but the investigation report provided new details about the missteps and bungling that led to the burning in the Bagram base’s burn pit.

Troops estimated that about 100 religious books were destroyed. Others were recovered, although many were damaged.

Altogether, more than 2,000 books, including 1,200 religious texts and copies of the holy Quran, were targeted for disposal at the burn pit,but most were saved when an angry crowd of Afghans gathered outside.

By arrangement with Bloomberg-Washington Post News Service