TIME – The Koran-Burning Riots: Can U.S. and Afghan Troops Work Together?
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As the anger over the Koran-burning controversy continued to convulse Afghanistan, another violent incident disrupted how the Kabul government interacts with its Western allies. On Saturday afternoon, a member of the Afghan Interior Ministry opened fire on two U.S. advisers — a lieut. colonel and a major — at the ministry’s command-and-control center in the capital. The Americans were shot in the back of their heads as they sat at their desks, news reports said. “A countrywide manhunt is under way for the fugitive,” Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi told TIME. Since the news broke, speculation has raged over whether the killer was an insurgent infiltrator or simply motivated by the Koran burnings at the Bagram airfield earlier this week. Sediqi denied the idea of infiltration, saying it is “clear that insurgent groups are not able to have such connections as this. The ministry is very secure, and we have not had any such incidents in the past. It cannot be suggested that he has links with some groups. But we will have to investigate.”