Afghan protest: Crocker urges US not to pull troops out

The United States should resist any urge to pull troops out of Afghanistan ahead of schedule in response to the violence against Americans sparked by a burning of the Koran at a U.S. military base, U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker said on Sunday.Tensions are running very high here. I think we need to let things calm down, return to a more normal atmosphere, and then get on with business, Crocker said in an interview.He added that a full investigation of the incident was underway at the Bagram airbase near Kabul.A U.S. Defense Department spokesman said the Afghan defense and interior ministers were postponing scheduled trips to the United States this week while consulting with other Afghan leaders on protecting allied forces and quelling the violence.Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Interior Minister Interior Minister Bismillah Mohammadi had been set to meet U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday, March 1.Panetta looks forward to hosting them at the Pentagon in the near future, and understands why their efforts at home take priority now, Pentagon press secretary George Little said in an email.Crocker said, This is not the time to decide that we are done here. We have got to redouble our efforts. Weve got to create a situation that al Qaeda is not coming back, Crocker added. If we decide were tired of it, al Qaeda and the Taliban certainly arent, he said.U.S. forces are scheduled to cede the lead role in combat operations in Afghanistan next year, but will keep fighting alongside Afghan troops under American plans announced recently.The U.S. forces have been fighting in Afghanistan since a 2001 invasion that toppled the Taliban rulers who harbored the al Qaeda leaders responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.President Barack Obama apologized on Thursday in a letter to Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the burning of copies of the Koran, which he called inadvertent and an error. Crocker added that Karzai accepts both publicly and privately that the burning was inadvertent.Still, anger raged in Afghanistan for a sixth day on Sunday over desecration of the Muslim holy book.At least Seven U.S. military trainers were wounded on Sunday when a grenade was thrown at their base in northern Afghanistan. At least four American troops have been killed in apparent revenge attacks in the past week, and dozens of Afghans have been killed or wounded in protests over the incident.