Abdullah: Protests too risky, could help insurgents

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Abdullah: Protests too risky, could help insurgents
By Dianna Cahn, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Wednesday, November 11, 2009

PANJSHIR PROVINCE, Afghanistan — There are almost no foreign soldiers on the streets of Panjshir province, no massive bombings or ambushes that plague much of Afghanistan.

Still, the war is nearby. Taliban insurgents are active in areas surrounding Panjshir, a fiercely independent province of ethnic Tajiks who overwhelmingly supported opposition candidate Abdullah Abdullah in recent presidential elections.

Abdullah handed victory to President Hamid Karzai last week when he withdrew from election runoffs saying the process was tainted. Frustrated and disillusioned, his supporters looked to their man for a sign that they should take to the streets.

It was not forthcoming.

Abdullah said Tuesday his followers were champing at the bit to protest, but the country was too unstable to sustain that kind of political unrest.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=66019