Mazar-i-Sharīf, also known as Mazar-e Sharīf or simply Mazar, is the fourth-largest city in Afghanistan by population, with an estimated 500,207 residents in 2021. It is the capital of Balkh province and is linked by highways with Kunduz in the east, Kabul in the southeast, Herat in the southwest and Termez, Uzbekistan in the north. It is about 55 km (34 mi) from the Uzbek border. The city is also a tourist attraction because of its famous shrines as well as the Islamic and Hellenistic archeological sites. The ancient city of Balkh is also nearby.
Mohammad Qasim Fahim was an Afghan military commander and politician who served as Vice President of Afghanistan from June 2002 until December 2004 and from November 2009 until his death. He was considered a powerful and influential figure during the Karzai Administration.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan is a UN Special Political Mission tasked with assisting the people of Afghanistan.
Quran desecration is the treatment of the Quran in a way that might be considered insulting.
During the War in Afghanistan, according to the Costs of War Project the war killed 176,000 people in Afghanistan: 46,319 civilians, 69,095 military and police and at least 52,893 opposition fighters. However, the death toll is possibly higher due to unaccounted deaths by "disease, loss of access to food, water, infrastructure, and/or other indirect consequences of the war." According to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, the conflict killed 212,191 people. The Cost of War project estimated in 2015 that the number who have died through indirect causes related to the war may be as high as 360,000 additional people based on a ratio of indirect to direct deaths in contemporary conflicts.
Dove World Outreach Center is a 50-member non-denominational charismatic Christian church led by pastor Terry Jones and his wife, Sylvia. After spending more than 25 years in Gainesville, Florida, the church sold its 20 acres of property in July 2013 and plans to relocate to Tampa. The church first gained notice during the late 2000s for its public displays and criticism of Islam and gay people, and was designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. It became widely known for its pastor's controversial plan to burn Qur'ans on the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
In July 2011, Terry Jones, the pastor of the Christian Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, U.S., announced he would burn 200 Qurans on the 2010 anniversary of the September 11 attacks. He gained media coverage, resulting in international outrage throughout the Islamic world over his plans and pleas from world leaders to cancel the event. Jones' threat sparked protests in the Middle East and Asia, in which at least 20 people were killed. In early September 2010, Jones cancelled and pledged never to burn a Quran.
Events from the year 2011 in Afghanistan.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1974, adopted unanimously on March 22, 2011, after recalling previous resolutions on Afghanistan, in particular 1917 (2010), the Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) for a period of one year until March 23, 2012.
Siri Skare was the first female aviator in the armed forces of Norway. She died during a demonstration in Mazar-i-Sharif in 2011.
The 2011 Afghanistan Ashura bombings were a pair of bombings in the Afghan capital of Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif. The Kabul suicide bombing took place at around noon local time, on the day when Muslims commemorate Ashura, an annual holy day throughout the Muslim world particularly by the Shi'a Muslims.
Events from the year 2012 in Afghanistan.
The 2012 Afghanistan Quran burning protests were a series of protests of varying levels of violence which took place early in 2012 in response to the burning of Islamic religious material by soldiers from the United States Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. On 22 February 2012, U.S. troops at Bagram Base disposed of copies of the Quran that had been used by Taliban prisoners to write messages to each other. As part of the disposal, parts of the books were burned. Afghan forces working at the base reported this, resulting in outraged Afghans besieging Bagram AFB, raining it with molotov cocktails and stones. After five days of protest, 30 people had been killed, including four Americans. Over 200 people were wounded. International condemnation followed the burning of copies of the Quran, on 22 February 2012, from the library that is used by inmates at the base's detention facility. The protests included domestic riots which caused at least 41 deaths and at least 270 injuries.
The April 2012 Afghanistan attacks took place on Sunday, 15 April 2012, at around 13:00 local time when heavily armed Taliban insurgents and suicide bombers launched multiple coordinated attacks throughout Afghanistan. Insurgents launched the 2012 spring offensive on multiple locations, including government buildings, military bases, and embassies. Attacks occurred in four Afghan provinces, including Kabul and Paktia. Different reports attribute responsibility for the attacks to either Taliban or the Haqqani network although the Taliban have claimed responsibility.
On April 18, 2012, the Los Angeles Times released photos of U.S. soldiers posing with body parts of dead insurgents, after a soldier in the 82nd Airborne Division gave the photos to the Los Angeles Times to draw attention to "a breakdown in security, discipline and professionalism" among U.S. troops operating in Afghanistan. The pictures had been taken at a police station in Zabol province in February 2010.
On 23 July 2016, a twin bombing occurred in the vicinity of Deh Mazang square in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, when Enlightenment Movement protesters, mostly from the Hazara ethnic group, were marching against a decision to bypass their region in the development of the TUTAP mega power project. At least 97 people were killed and 260 injured. The terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claimed responsibility, however the same group later on refused it. Some Hazara protestors allege that Afghan president Ashraf Ghani was behind the attack. They believe that Ashraf Ghani government was abetting the terrorists who were responsible for the attack. They also allege that the government officials were preventing the wounded from being shifted to the hospital.
The Kunduz madrassa airstrike was an Afghan Air Force (AAF) airstrike that killed and injured many civilians at the Akhundzada Gojor Madrassa in the Dasht-e-Archi region of Kunduz, Afghanistan on 2 April 2018. The target of airstrike was a religious gathering at a Madrassa. A graduation ceremony was taking place at the Madrassa and hundreds of people were attending the ceremony at the time of airstrike. Initially, Afghan Government claimed that airstrike had killed scores of Taliban and denied any civilian casualties took place. But later the Afghan Government admitted that civilians were killed in the airstrike. Local residents from Dasht-e-Archi deny that any Taliban were present at the Madrassa. They said that only children and civilians were targeted and there were no Taliban among the casualties.
On 16 April 2022, the Pakistani military conducted predawn airstrikes on multiple targets in Afghanistan's Khost and Kunar provinces. Afghan officials said the attacks killed at least 47 civilians and injured 23 others. Initial reports described the attacks as either rocket strikes or aerial strikes carried out by a number of aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force, and Afghan officials claimed the operation was carried out by Pakistani military helicopters and jets. Pakistani officials initially denied Pakistan carried out the airstrikes, but Pakistani security officials later claimed the airstrikes involved drone strikes from inside Pakistani airspace, and that no aircraft were deployed. Some reports said the Pakistani airstrikes also targeted parts of Paktika Province.
On 21 April 2022, a powerful bomb rocked the Shia Seh Dokan mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif, Balkh Province, Afghanistan killing at least 31 people and injuring more than 87 others. The Islamic State – Khorasan Province claimed responsibility via Telegram.
In 2023, instances of Quran-burning occurred in Sweden, which were named collectively by Swedish media as the Korankrisen. The most notable of them occurred on 28 June 2023, when a 37-year-old Iraqi Assyrian refugee Salwan Momika ripped out and set fire to pages of the Quran outside the Stockholm Mosque. This incident caused international protests and condemnation, particularly among the Muslim world. On 20 July, Momika planned another Quran burning in Stockholm, which resulted in protestors storming the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad and committing arson.
