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"Down with Obama!": Afghan Villagers Protest Night Raids
Hundreds of villagers have blocked a highway in eastern Afghanistan to protest a night raid by Nato and Afghan soldiers that left two people dead.
Villagers have staged similar protests in recent months, including one in Nangarhar in May. (Reuters) A statement from the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force
(Isaf) said two "Taliban insurgents" were killed in the raid in a
district near Jalalabad.
But villagers said the men were civilians; their protest temporarily closed the highway connecting Jalalabad to Pakistan on Wednesday.
"The Americans who killed these people should come and see whether it is civilians or insurgents they killed," Mohammad Gul, one of the protesters, said. "We need an explanation from them."
Many of the protesters chanted anti-American slogans, like "down with Obama" and "down with foreign forces," during the hours-long protest.
Isaf said the men had been involved in roadside bomb attacks, and that Nato and Afghan soldiers were fired upon from "multiple directions" as they entered the compound.
Routine civilian casualties
The protest mirrored a similar demonstration last week, when Nato and Afghan forces raided a house in Wardak province. Neighbours claimed the night raid killed three civilians, and hundreds of them took to the streets to protest the following afternoon.
Afghans have staged a number of similar protests in recent months: Villagers near Jalalabad burned tyres in May after a night raid killed at least nine people, and hundreds protested after Nato troops opened fire on a bus in Kandahar in April.
General Stanley McChrystal, the former commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, issued a classified directive earlier this year calling on troops to limit their use of night raids, which routinely result in civilian casualties.
A United Nations report released last week found that raids by Nato troops killed 41 civilians in the first half of 2010.
Night raids have been a particular point of friction between Nato and Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president. Karzai demanded an end to all night raids in February.
18 Comments so far
Show AllDamn those night raids! We need to return to daylight raids! They're so much more humane. No one would object to our indiscriminate killing of civilians in broad daylight. Only a military lacking in integrity would resort to night raids. Besides, by raiding Afghan villages during daylight, we'll be much better able to destroy them, thereby saving them. I'm sure the Afghans wouldn't protest any amount of daylight raiding.
"The Americans who killed these people should come and see whether it is civilians or insurgents they killed," Mohammad Gul, one of the protesters, said. "We need an explanation from them."
Barack Flopco will have nothing to say, at least not in public. In private, he will tell his cronies that you ignorant and heathen ragheads must be shown who is Boss and that you must suffer for your freedom.
What is the problem? Gosh Afghanistan Muslims, don't you realize you need to sacrifice your loved ones so that we can bring you freedom and Democracy. I guess you never heard of collateral damage! By the way, don't you want to be demonized like the terrorists excuse me; I mean the Muslims in America?
Bring our troops and our money home. Thats the answer.
No one can be killed by any foreign troops if none are present.
Bush started this, but Obama wears the blood at this point.
I agree with you Mighty...It certainly is time to go home..Past time...
"Bush started this, but Obama wears the blood at this point."
Indeed he does...He missed a great opportunity to actually do something regarding this military operation but unfortunately (for self-serving reasons) chose not only to maintain the status quo but to actually make things worse than they originally were . (I did not think that possible)
Personally I expected a transitional administration. What I got was constant disappointment. As my friend in Texas would say...Big hat..Tall boots....No cattle.... He nurtured and continues to nurture a house of thieves....
Dante, and i say this respectfully....Obama made no secret of his intention to intensify the 'war' in Afghanistan. It was a big part of his campaign. Do you really not remember?
One reason i will never figure out why so many 'progressives' thought he was the second coming. I always chalked it up to a kind of racism in reverse.
".Obama made no secret of his intention to intensify the 'war' in Afghanistan. It was a big part of his campaign. Do you really not remember? "
Ready,
You are right. I do remember....It is the only thing he didn't lie about.....
The ONLY thing.
This man my friend is making Fagin look like a choir director. I would also adapt "...Big hat..Tall boots....No cattle" for him so it would fit better...
Huge hat..Small boots....No cattle
Mighty,
You got it right....Huge hat....Small boots....No cattle...
Thomas Gilbert
We suck ! Those men that radied the village, were most likely private security, which is a nice way of saying mercenaries.
When stupid Obama was running for President, he said that he would stop the use of Blackwater and groups like that, and now he has increased the use of such men by 27% about 80,000 more gun toten killers, we suck...for every innocent person we kill over there, it just brings us closer to our own death, you just can't keep doing horrible things without them eventually catching up with you. This murder we keep allowing is on our hands too, the blood soaked hands of every American will one day bring us all down. We laugh, and go on trips, and watch football and all the while digging a path to hell, I am ashamed of the American people, we are cowards.
razormirror, i don't remember our pres. campaigning against blackwater. But I do remember him saying that afghanistan was going to be ratcheted up. Remember? That was the 'good war'.
You may well be correct, though. I tuned him out way before the election.
Yeah he didn't say it alot ,but he was questioned about it, and said he was against the private co. they were making trouble over there or something, but I clearly remember him saying that.
As far as the good war ,yes he said he was going to beef up Afghanistan, it's just a shame that it is the only promise he kept intact,and went all the way. Wish it had been healthcare or something instead !!
Imagine night raids by a foreign occupying force in the US, but choosing not to join an insurgency.
Makes the Taliban, save their treatment of women of course, seem very sane.
Ahhhhh, g*d! Pretty disgusting, isn't it? The time is long, long overdue for the United States to quit pointing fingers at other people and to take a longer, harder look at its own abysmal human rights record both here at home AND abroad.
Who to believe - the US government who consistently lies about the dead being only Taliban members (Too many wedding party deaths to count and Ethan McCords and fellow soldiers statements about killing civilians for simply being present), or poor village people from Afghanistan. Gee, guess it isn't too hard to choose.
I don't see what you people are getting all worked up about. This wasn't printed in the New York Times above the fold, so why are you giving it any credence?
Will the Afghans be allowed to build an Islamic or Christian cultural center in that village?