A diplomatic déjà vu in AfPak

An AP report, issued on April 10, highlighted that US General McKiernan of Afghan fame had paid a visit to Kandahar/Helmand. Besides striving to reach out to the tribesmen, he was there to offer "apologies for the past mistakes." The general explained, "I'm trying to connect to the local people in a bottom-up way and try to explain what the new US strategy means.... Indicating a change of stance he promised them less harassment and lesser wanton death/destruction by his troops as laid down by President Obama. Going an extra mile to charm his audience, he emphasised that he was studying their Holy Book. To win widespread acclaim he explained: "I'm reading a very good book now about this part of the world. It's written in English, but it's all about you - it's the Quran."
The general may be a good guy but he makes desperate statements at times. In the above avowal he appears to have made the mistake of implying that the Holy Quran is about "this part of the world" and "all about you" whereas it about the whole niverse/humanity. His audience, despite the acrimony aroused a la the occupation, may have overlooked or failed to notice such a slip due to the feelings of hospitality which is rife herein. While he is welcome to his new initiative, he should have his expressions conforming to the local lingo/leanings in relation to Islam.
I can't help being reminded of the days of the Afghan War of mid80's. As I was working in the Intelligence Bureau in Islamabad and dealing with the subject, I had access to lot of relevant intelligence, directly as well as indirectly. During the first week of Jan 86 we had the privilege of welcoming John who ended up as being one of the principal proponents among the Republicans, like the Democrat Brezeinski, of avenging the US' Vietnam-disaster. The material produced by CIA to induce the Muslims to fight against 'Godless Communism' was stupendous. One of my friends in our sister agency had also briefed me on the subject and we wondered what our American friends could produce to bolster their support among the credulous/hard-pressed Muslims. We also got to learn that such propaganda received indispensable input from the Saudis/Egyptians etc.
Subsequently I got posted to our embassy in Bonn/W Germany. Most of the mujahideen commanders had a foothold in that country besides having many followers belonging to Afghanistan. This was, mainly, due to traditional links between Germany and Afghanistan established earlier on which led to the setting up of German Institutes. Such an interaction introduced the language among the Afghans which built up good feelings among the two people.