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About 1,000 demonstrators rampaged through the Afghan capital on Monday torching the offices of foreign aid agencies and looting businesses in a wave of violence that killed at least 16 people and injured another 142.
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The unrest was the worst to sweep through Kabul since 2001 and reflects growing resentment about the foreign military presence in the country and the slow pace of reconstruction. The US has 23,000 troops and Nato a force of about 9,000 in Afghanistan.

The protest was triggered by a collision between a US military convoy and a cargo truck that caused a 12-car pile-up, the US military said in a statement.

A crowd quickly swelled around the accident in the northern Shomali district of Kabul and turned hostile, surrounding the US vehicles.

Shots were then fired either by the US military or Afghan police who had arrived on the scene.

“There are indications that at least one coalition military vehicle fired warning shots over the crowd,” Colonel Thomas Collins, US military spokesman, said in a statement.

Five people were killed during the accident and the shooting which followed, a statement from the Afghan presidency said.

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I wonder what could be more important for the government than providing water and electricity for he people?! I asked people why they don’t complain to the authorities. The response was rather shocking. I was told that the situation with the electric service had improved after the appointment of Ismael Khan as the Minister of Water and Power. The reason I said I was shocked by the response is that Ismael Khan is categorized as a Warlord and he is supposed to be part of the problem not the solution. But, it was rather ironic that a warlord, not a technocrat educated in the West, was delivering on the promise of serving the people.

Other public services are also inadequate. The city is littered with trash. I mean piles of trash. Health clinics exist in all municipal districts, but due to lack of professional care, a significant number of people prefer going to private physicians even though the latter comes with a cost.

Traffic is another major problem in Kabul city. The streets are crowded with pedestrians, carts, vendors, vehicles and even animals in certain parts of the city. Driving is a major headache in Kabul. There are no traffic rules and if there are any, no one follows them. There were a few traffic lights in Kabul in the seventies and eighties, but I didn’t see any right now.

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Hundreds of angry protesters marched to the city centre palace of President Hamid Karzai, shouting "Death to Karzai" and "Death to America."

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They're not kidding. Dr. Najibullah, the Soviet-backed predecessor to the Taliban, was hanged in public, along with his brother, and put on display. Does Canada really want to be supporting someone whose own countrymen call for his death?

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Originally posted by Fidel:
Yes, and why did the rest of the world turn their backs on the ethnic cleansing, pillage, rape and forced exodus of almost three million Afghani's between 1992 and 1996?.

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The world didn't turn their backs: they (via the Pakistan secret service) supported the Taliban, who brought the first period of stability to Afghanistan since the halcyon days of the late sixties and early seventies, and ended the Warlord's reign of terror.

First Afghan War 1842: Dr. William Brydon, an assistant surgeon in the Bengal Army arriving at the gates of Jellabad on his exhausted and dying horse. He was thought to be the sole survivor of some 16,000 strong army and followers from Kabul.

[ 29 May 2006: Message edited by: ceti ]

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Originally posted by S1m0n:

The world didn't turn their backs: they (via the Pakistan secret service) supported the Taliban, who brought the first period of stability to Afghanistan since the halcyon days of the late sixties and early seventies, and ended the Warlord's reign of terror.

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You must mean in the years after 1979 to 1992 in which the CIA, Brits and Saudi's were funding the same ruthless, most vicious warlords, foreign-based mercenaries and drug barons who would later recruit Taliban students into Pakistani seminaries funded by the west?. The same Islamo-fascist Taliban who staged public executions of women in a football stadium?. And then there were reports of women being buried alive for wearing nail polish in the post PDPA years. My god how we've helped them.

Taliban's halcyon days

Is this Santiago de Chile football stadium in the 1970's? No, it's a scene in Kabul's soccer stadium late 1990's.

[ 29 May 2006: Message edited by: Fidel ]

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Originally posted by Fidel:

You must mean in the years after 1979 to 1992 in which the CIA, Brits and Saudi's were funding the same ruthless, most vicious warlords, foreign-based mercenaries and drug barons who would later recruit Taliban students into Pakistani seminaries funded by the west?. The same Islamo-fascist Taliban who staged public executions of women in a football stadium?. And then there were reports of women being buried alive for wearing nail polish in the post PDPA years. My god how we've helped them.

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No, I meant what I wrote: the Taliban were Afghanistan's best chance for peace and the eventual resumption of normality. The Western invasion is a step back, not forward, for Afghanistan.

Stability and peace--the rule of law, however composed--is the necessary precondition for the development of civil society.

In some places, perhaps, that can come under foreign occupation, but Afrghanistan has made it perfectly clear over the centuries that it will not be such a place.

In that case, the afghans are going to have to do it themselves. Unfortunately, there is NO palatable faction in afghanistan that's strong enough, even with western help, to accomplish this. Our choices are between perpetual chaos and varying flavours of distasteful.

One such was the Taliban. Once we've been driven out and a new gang of thugs climbs to the top of the heap, they'll be just as brutal as the Taliban were.

And Afghanistan will have lost another generation. As I wrote, Yeay us!

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Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, after years of unconscionably cruel treatment of women, persecution of Hindu "infidels" and Christian foreign aid workers, destruction of ancient Buddhist temples, and barbaric measures towards accused criminals, is finally in the world's spotlight. Afghanistan was one of the key battlegrounds of the Cold War but, sadly, what was once unthinkable has now become quite clear: the U.S. was backing the wrong side all along.
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The PDPA regime promoted education for girls, gave women the right to divorce and own property, and reduced the bride price to a nominal fee. It also distributed land to the impoverished peasants and restrained the power of the mullahs, the Muslim clergy.
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When Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev pulled Soviet troops out in early 1989, it was widely predicted in the Western press that the Afghan regime would collapse within months. It didn't happen. At key battles like the bloody siege of Jalalabad, Afghan Army men as well as women in volunteer militias fought side by side and defeated the Mujahedin. The PDPA government held out until 1992, when rebel groups finally seized the capital, Kabul. Many of these rebel soldiers, along with Afghan refugees from Pakistan, later came to form the Taliban, who took over most of the country in 1996. What has followed has been a nightmare worse than anything the PDPA ever could have brought to Afghanistan.
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One picture taken shortly after the Taliban takeover says it all: a trembling woman covered in a head to toe veil, her face completely obscured, sobs as she speaks with a Western reporter. Who is she? An impoverished peasant? A homeless woman? No, she's the recently removed chief surgeon at the country's largest hospital!

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Afghani women soldiers of the PDPA, Afghanistan 1989

Tonight we saw them on television and heard their voice.

Let us respect their democratic wishes, as expressed in the streets, at risk of their lives.

Let us condemn the illegal bloodthirsty U.S.-led invasion and occupation, and the puppet warlord regime which they installed in Kabul by force of arms.

Let us withdraw our own soldiers from that country at once. All "support for our troops" must stop, before such "support" claims more innocent lives.

I witnessed several scrums after car accidents. I don't think that anyone has insurance, so losing one's car must be a major trauma, not to mention personal injuries.

With regards to the future of the country as a whole, I spent some time working with the Afghan National Army (ANA). I spoke to all ranks, and even the recruits were motivated and dedicated to a stable and secure Afghanistan. Take it for what is worth, but they also appreciated the support, both moral and physical, that Western troops and countries give.

Cheers,

TK 421

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One picture taken shortly after the Taliban takeover says it all: a trembling woman covered in a head to toe veil, her face completely obscured, sobs as she speaks with a Western reporter. Who is she? An impoverished peasant? A homeless woman? No, she's the recently removed chief surgeon at the country's largest hospital!

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Maybe it shows our own racism. Canada ofcourse never removed surgeons from their post or put innocent people in jail. Women are never discriminated against here in Canada. Oh no, never here.

1000 people out of 3.5 million is not a majority of the people speaking?

I do not think the people have spoken as you wish they have.

From the original article posted by rasmus raven

“However, diplomats and eyewitnesses said the demonstrations had been used by criminals as an opportunity for looting and theft.

“They were thieves. They were waiting for a small opportunity to steal and loot from the houses,” said Jan Ali, a 50-year-old shopkeeper in downtown Kabul.”

Or

“Opinion remains divided over whether the disturbance was orchestrated by Islamic militants or was a spontaneous eruption.

“The riots were organized,” said a western security source working with Afghan police. “They have been waiting for a catalyst from the coalition forces and biding their time.”

He added that he had seen demonstrators carrying maps with a route drawn out. “They are after martyrdom. They are calling the people who got killed in the accident martyrs,” he said.”

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Originally posted by Webgear:
1000 people out of 3.5 million is not a majority of the people speaking?

I do not think the people have spoken as you wish they have.

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Oh yes they have. This is the beginning of the end for the invaders. By the way, the BBC says it was 2,000 people, and that the authorities (U.S. and/or Afghan police) fired on the demonstrators and at least seven were killed. There are no reports of demonstrators armed with anything but stones.

Naturally, people who take to the streets in their thousands calling for death to the U.S. and its puppets must be crazed delirious martyrdom-seeking Muslims carrying maps, no less. Do you even begin to realize how foolish and racist are these reports that you quote as reliable sources, Webgear?

The puppet warlord authorities have imposed a curfew. I imagine they are shaking in their boots right now. Too bad.

"Gunfire, at times intense, rang out across Kabul as hundreds of young men smashed shop fronts, carted off goods and set fire to police cars and station houses"

Kabul erupts into violence over an accident

"A fatal traffic accident involving US troops sparked Kabul's worst riots since the fall of the Taliban yesterday, with thousands of protesters looting shops and chanting "Death to America".

Almost all of the articles I have seen, have mentioned that looting of local Afghan shops occurred, if all these protestors were mad at Western Forces why did they loot their own countrymen. It would seem to me the most of these rioters were involved for criminal reasons rather than political motives.

The BBC article mentions that 7 people were killed perhaps these seven people were the shopkeepers trying to defend their property, or actual killed in the traffic accident itself however I doubt that came to your mind.

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Originally posted by Webgear:

The BBC article mentions that 7 people were killed perhaps these seven people were the shopkeepers trying to defend their property, or actual killed in the traffic accident itself however I doubt that came to your mind.

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Almost all of the articles I have seen, have mentioned that looting of local Afghan shops occurred, if all these protestors were mad at Western Forces why did they loot their own countrymen. It would seem to me the most of these rioters were involved for criminal reasons rather than political motives.

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Polunatic2: Why don't these Afghanis just get jobs ...

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According to the CBC Quick Facts, the unemployment rate is at 78%. It's like trying to get a job on an Indian Reserve in Canada.

No wait. The unemployment rate is worse on many Reserves.But no one's bombing them.

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To many Afghans, foreigners are a privileged elite, earning hefty salaries and given to drinking alcohol while this shattered Islamic country remains mired in violence and poverty...

"We don't want these foreigners, they should go home. They're damaging our society, the economy is terrible and we're so poor. And they're looting Afghanistan. Why aren't they building factories?" asked Faisal Agha, 45, a policeman who was injured in the riots that left at least 11 dead and scores wounded.

"Now there's prostitution, alcohol. There's more vice," he said from his hospital bed, his eyes puffy and his face bruised after falling during Monday's chaos...

Despite suspicions that anti-government elements could be fomenting the unrest, the main protagonists seemed to be angry young men.

Still, the signs on the street are that the irritation with foreigners has not hardened into widespread xenophobia.

"We want the good foreigners to stay in Afghanistan, to help us. Not these people who kill us, they must go," said Ahmed Mirwais Kabuli, 17, a wedding photographer.

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The New York Times reports today:

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It became clear the American military and the Afghan police and army had used their weapons to try to disperse the crowds. Scores of people were treated in hospitals for gunshot wounds.

A 7-year-old boy was among the dead, and two more schoolchildren were badly wounded, said Dr. Amin, the duty doctor at Khair Khana Hospital in the northern part of Kabul, who like many Afghans uses only one name. Four people died at the hospital, he said, and 60 wounded people were given first aid before being transferred to other hospitals.

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Afghans have reasons for their anger, for example:

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Ali Seraj, a businessman and a descendant of the Afghan royal family, contended that the American military showed a careless attitude toward human life that was becoming a growing problem, whether it was the bombing of villages in counterinsurgency activities in southern Afghanistan or car accidents in the capital.

"This type of attitude has created a great deal of mistrust and hatred," he said.

Just last week, President Karzai ordered an investigation of an American airstrike on a village near Kandahar in the south that killed at least 35 civilians.

In another episode, the United States military said last month that it would investigate the killings of seven members of a family in an airstrike in Kunar Province in the east during an operation against insurgents.

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