SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Villagers have staged similar protests in recent months, including one in Nangarhar in May. (Reuters)
"Down with Obama!": Afghan Villagers Protest Night Raids
Aug 18, 2010
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.
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.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
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.
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.
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.
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.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.