WASHINGTON (RNS) President Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai blasted the recent burning of a Quran at a Florida church and the deadly riots that followed during a video teleconference meeting on Wednesday (April 6).<\/p>\n
Both leaders “deplored” the desecration of the Muslim holy book and condemned the subsequent April 1 attack on a U.N. compound, the White House said in a statement. Both men also “expressed deep regret for the tragic loss of life.”<\/p>\n
At least two dozen people have been killed since protests broke out after Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Fla., oversaw the burning of a Quran in a mock trial on March 20. Twelve people were killed in the attack at the compound in Mazar-e-Sharif, including seven U.N. staffers.<\/p>\n
“The two presidents were clear that to attack and kill innocent people is an affront to human decency and dignity,” the White House said. “Both leaders agreed that now is a time for our two nations to come together, in the pursuit of common values and common goals.”<\/p>\n
Karzai has been criticized for drawing attention to the Quran burning, which initially received scant attention in the United States.<\/p>\n
As of Thursday, some Afghan protests continued, including several days of rallies at Kabul University.<\/p>\n
– ADELLE M. BANKS<\/strong>, Religion News Service<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WASHINGTON (RNS) President Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai blasted the recent burning of a Quran at a Florida church and the deadly riots that followed during a video teleconference meeting on Wednesday (April 6). Both leaders “deplored” the desecration of the Muslim holy book and condemned the subsequent April 1 attack on a U.N.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":345,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,8,5,9],"tags":[33,227,305,307,2208,2207,61,2202,306,88],"class_list":["post-2814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-news","category-politics","category-rns","tag-barack-obama","tag-burning","tag-florida","tag-hamid-zarzai","tag-islam","tag-muslim","tag-quran","tag-rns","tag-terry-jones","tag-united-nations"],"yoast_head":"\n