The US Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker has said that the US should resist the urge to pull troops out of Afghanistan ahead of schedule due to the violence against Americans over the burning of the Koran at a US military base.
He added that a full investigation of the incident was underway at the Bagram airbase near Kabul.
US 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 US forces have been fighting in Afghanistan since a 2001 invasion that toppled the Taliban rulers who harboured the al Qaeda leaders responsible for the 11 September attacks on the US.
President Barack Obama apologised last Thursday day 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 today over desecration of the Muslim holy book.
Seven US military trainers were wounded today 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.
