KABUL, Afghanistan — A senior American commander in Afghanistan apologized on Wednesday for a “highly offensive” leaflet that contained an image of a dog and the Taliban flag, which includes an Islamic verse.

The Taliban said the leaflet showed what they said was the American forces’ hatred of Islam, adding that Taliban fighters had carried out a suicide attack near the entrance to the Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, in revenge. Local officials said that attack wounded four Afghan civilians.

The leaflet, distributed Tuesday by American forces in Parwan Province, north of Kabul, showed a section of the Taliban’s flag superimposed onto the side of a dog, an animal considered unclean by Muslims. The flag contains an Arabic passage from the Quran.

“The design of the leaflets mistakenly contained an image highly offensive to both Muslims and the religion of Islam,” the American commander, Maj. Gen. James B. Linder, said in a statement.