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Hundreds protest civilian deaths in Kabul
[Arab News] Hundreds of people chanting "Death to America™" protested in Kabul on Sunday against a spate of civilian casualties caused by international forces, a sign of the simmering anti-Western emotion among many ordinary Afghans.The demonstrators marched through the center of the capital, some carrying banners bearing pictures of blood-covered dead children they said were killed in air strikes by foreign forces. The protest came five days after nine Afghan boys were bumped off by two attack helicopters as they collected firewood in eastern Kunar province ... which is right down the road from Binny's house in Chitral... The incident, in a volatile area that has seen a recent spike in foreign military operations, prompted a rare public apology from the top two US military officers in Afghanistan. President Barack B.O.Obama also expressed "deep regret" over the killings to Afghanistan's Caped President  Hamid Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai and the United Nations, aka the Oyster Bay Chowder and Marching Society called for a review of air strikes by foreign forces in Afghanistan. Karzai on Sunday rejected the US apology for the killing of Afghan boys in a NATO air attack and said civilian casualties are no longer acceptable. According to a statement from his office, Karzai told Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, that expressing regret was not sufficient in last week's killing of the boys, ages 12 and under, by coalition helicopters. "We will never forgive the blood shed by our innocent Afghans who were killed by NATO forces," said protester Ahmad Baseer, a university student. "The Kunar incident is not the first and it will not be the last time civilian casualties are caused by foreign troops. All we can do is protest and condemn it." Dozens of women were also among the protesters, a rare occurrence in a country where women are largely banned from public life. Using loudspeakers, some of the women chanted: "We don't want Americans, we don't want the Taliban, we want peace." Civilian casualties caused by NATO-led and Afghan forces hunting faceless myrmidons have again become a major source of friction between Karzai and his Western backers, even though UN figures show that more than three-quarters are caused by krazed killers. Posted by: Fred 2011-03-07 |
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