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Topic: Afghan protests against US

kuri
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4202

posted 14 May 2005 07:31 AM

Sign of things to come? This is the first bit news I've seen come out of Afghanistan in a long time that isn't trumpeting it as a success story.

Nine die in Afghan protests against the US (Scotsman)

quote:
Anger spread in Afghanistan yesterday after earlier reports that United States interrogators at Guantanamo Bay had desecrated the Koran. Protests left nine people dead and about 30 wounded.
...
The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, urged Muslims to resist calls for violence, saying US military authorities were investigating the allegation.

Apologies if I'm duplicating a thread, I searched "babble Afghanistan" and got only old thread that didn't fit this and scanned this section, 'news' and 'peace movement'.

Edited to make "sign of things to come" a question.

[ 14 May 2005: Message edited by: kurichina ]

From: an employer more progressive than rabble.ca | Registered: Jun 2003 | IP: Logged

skdadl
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 478

posted 14 May 2005 08:44 AM

Yes, things seem to be heating up in both Afghanistan and, quite separately, Uzbekistan, where, it seems to me, the Americans grasp even less well what a mess they are making.

And the British are going to take over command next year. Well, it's a long time between now and January in Central Asia.

(If no one else has, I'll start a thread on Uzbekistan later today. What's happening there is growing, and Scott McLellan is mouthing the stupidest possible things about it from the White House.

But in my view, kurichina, we can never have too many threads on the Stans. )

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kuri
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4202

posted 14 May 2005 09:15 AM

NATO are currently dividing up Afghanistan into security sections. I remember hearing nothing but unfettered optimism about Afghanistan when visiting NATO with my programme here. While they spoke cautiously about the outlying regions, they described Kabul (and the other Stage 1 areas) as completely secure.

While these protests don't seem very large yet, (9 dying in Afghanistans seems relatively low, it's sad to say), they certainly seem to indicate that there's some low-lying sentiments that could still resurface. I'm not 100% sure the non-USian partners there are fully willing the recognize the damage that trying to engineer a country can do.

Edited: Holy crap! Maybe I'll leave that image out until I figure out how to thumbnail it! Edited again: There, that's a bit better. Nothing like a 3000 pixel wide image for sidescroll.

[ 14 May 2005: Message edited by: kurichina ]

From: an employer more progressive than rabble.ca | Registered: Jun 2003 | IP: Logged

skdadl
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 478

posted 14 May 2005 11:07 AM

But those nine died in mere protests! Can you imagine the ruckus if a single person died in a protest in Toronto?

"Kabul is secure." Yes, well, that's an old story. Every regime that has held power there since 1979, and of course long before that, has been able to say the same thing. Kabul was secure for the Soviets, although the Soviets were otherwise dying all over the country wherever they ventured. Kabul was secure for the Taliban -- actually, much more was secure for the Taliban, although hardly all, or even most. And whatever else is held now by NATO forces is held that way -- by force, by superior military power in a low-level war. That's not gonna fly for long.

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kuri
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 4202

posted 16 May 2005 03:48 AM

2 Afghanistan articles on the drug trade: (Christian Science Monitor)

Part one

Part two

In addition to oil, another resource that westerners are interested in and crucial to the geo-political situation.

[ 16 May 2005: Message edited by: kurichina ]

From: an employer more progressive than rabble.ca | Registered: Jun 2003 | IP: Logged

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