Cartoon fracas: A little more sense could not come soon enough

Can Amir Taheri be translated into Pashto?

Two Dead in Afghan Protests Over Drawings

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghanistan's top Islamic organization on Wednesday called for an end to violent protests against drawings of the Prophet Muhammad, as police shot dead two protesters to stop an angry crowd from marching on a U.S. military base in the southern part of the country.

Fourteen people were wounded in the clash in Qalat city, including ten protesters and four Afghan security forces who were struck by flying rocks, said Ahmad Khan, a doctor at the city's main hospital.

. . . As a third day of bloody unrest began across the country, members of Afghanistan's Ulama Council, the country's top Islamic clerics' organization, went on radio and television to appeal for calm.

"Islam says it's all right to demonstrate but not to resort to violence. This must stop," senior cleric Mohammed Usman told The Associated Press. "We condemn the cartoons but this does not justify violence. These rioters are defaming the name of Islam."

The AP also notes "peaceful" protests in Pakistan, Egypt, and Jordan. Mmmmm, I'll take their word for it, for now. (Did they read Taheri? Or just the Koran itself?)