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| Afghanistan |
| Traffic Accident Prompts Kabul protest |
| 2006-05-30 |
| I would note that we had a story some days ago that noted that some of Abdul Rasul Sayyaf's pet imams were calling for jihad in Kabul. While some of the protesters no doubt showed up for other reasons, I'd wager that if you look at the overlap between who attends those mosques and who showed up to shout "Death to the Great Satan" you'd see a fair correlation between the two. Violent anti-foreigner protests raged across the capital yesterday after a U.S. military truck crashed into traffic, touching off the worst rioting since the Taliban's ouster in 2001. At least eight persons died and 107 were injured before Kabul's streets calmed. Chanting "Death to America," rioters stoned the U.S. convoy involved in the accident, then headed to the center of town, ransacking offices of international aid groups and searching for foreigners in a display of rising resentment over civilian deaths in the war against insurgents. Gunfire, at times intense, rang out across Kabul as hundreds of young men looted shops and set fire to police cars and station houses. Some people said U.S. and Afghan troops fired on the crowds. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #7 Iran at work. |
| Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 2006-05-30 20:00 |
| #6 The same people would have demonstrated if an Amercian had run a stop light. They offer nothing to the betterment of Afghanistan and maybe this infection should be removed. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2006-05-30 10:53 |
#5 Bill Roggio reports directly from the scene (via Instapundit):The consensus among the folks I spoke to is the protests after the accident were staged by groups waiting for such an event to happen. I made the comparison to the reaction by some Islamist groups in Afghanistan (and elsewhere) after the Muhammad Cartoon riots, where the "spontaneous protests" were anything but. there was agreement on this point. I will likely post about this tonight or tomorrow. |
| Posted by: Mike 2006-05-30 10:36 |
| #4 The accident has been attributed to brake failure on the US truck. 1) Was it really an accident, or were the brakes sabotaged? 2) Even if it was really an accident, what steps are we taking to prevent it from being sabotage the next time, given how 'succesful' the rent-a-riot was? |
| Posted by: glenmore 2006-05-30 10:13 |
| #3 The Paks are rapidly becoming a major hindrance, not a partner, in the WoT. I don't give Perv long and this may be a good thing... |
| Posted by: Howard UK 2006-05-30 08:43 |
| #2 One year ago this month there were riots in Jalalabad and other Afghan cities, led by "students", protesting about alleged koran desecration in Gitmo. At the time, Karzai pointed to "outsiders". This was ISI sponsored. Notice all the young men involved in these new protests, the reports of imams preaching jihad. I fear we are seeing the Pakistani (Taliban) hand again, with agent-provocateurs waiting to stir up trouble. Pakistan cannot reassert its control over Afghanistan unless the coalition troops are forced out. This is all about "strategic depth" |
| Posted by: john 2006-05-30 08:04 |
| #1 Prolly time for some remediation of some "imams" This is a tragic traffic accident for the persons in hosptial and the families those killed in the actual traffic accident. I hope we do right by the victims, I am glad the cops were none to gentle when they arrived. Attempting to pacify a rent a mob in an islamic dominated setting is futile. They just don't "get it" |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom 2006-05-30 04:21 |