Afghan road blockades as innocents die

[IndianaGreen]

The argument made by RAWA and others is that the mere presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan elevates the level of violence in that country. This is why RAWA, an implacable opponent of the Taliban (unlike the US) and the warlords (again, unlike the US), is demanding a total and immediate withdrawal of all US/NATO troops from Afghanistan.


Thousands gathering to protest after four
Afghan children and a policeman were killed
and scores wounded when an explosion tore
through a group of local residents and
soldiers observing a road-construction project

Afghan road blockades as innocents die

Friday 08 January 2010
by Tom Mellen

Thousands of Afghan civilians have blocked a key main road in Nangarhar province, shouting "death to America" and "death to Karzai" in protest at the latest alleged killings of children by Western occupation forces.

An estimated 5,000 protesters demonstrated along a road between Kabul and Jalalabad.

In the second rally against rising civilian casualties in just over a week, citizens set fire to an effigy of Barack Obama and chanted anti-US slogans.

On Wednesday, an explosion tore through a group of children gathered around occupation troops visiting a US-funded road project in Nangarhar.

Afghan officials said that four children and a policeman were killed and 80 civilians were injured, mostly children. Minutes after the blast, residents accused US forces of throwing a grenade into the crowd.

NATO said that two died in the explosion, while Afghan police suggested that the blast may have been caused by a passing police vehicle hitting a mine. The incident is under investigation.

Thursday's demonstration ended peacefully after Nangarhar University student Sardar Wali read out a resolution calling on the Western-backed government to expel occupation forces and take immediate action to stop the killing of civilians.

Wednesday's bloodshed is the latest in a string of cases in which Western soldiers have been blamed for civilian deaths.

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/85335

[ShortnFiery]

1. "Western soldiers have been blamed for civilian deaths."

Now are leaders are preparing to expand the MIC's Battle Field Disneyland into YEMEN. The only thing stopping us from building a base in that country are the NATIVES.

It's time to "get a hint" and realize that the USA has LOST the battle for "the hearts and minds" of the ENTIRE Middle East.

But we won't ... not unlike the Soviet's invasion and occupation in the 70s and 80s, we're going to have to learn the hard way, i.e., piss away Trillions of our tax dollars and endure thousands of deaths and maiming of our military youth. :(

[IndianaGreen]

2. Afghan women turning to suicide in greater numbers: report

The biggest misconception Americans have about Afghanistan is that somehow women and girls are doing better since our troops invaded that country. Nothing could be further from the truth! It is also ironic that it was the United States support for religious radicals in the 1980s that brought the downfall of the Marxist government under which women and girls were free of the yoke of religion.

The Canadian Press, January 7, 2010

Afghan women turning to suicide in greater numbers: report

“Self-immolation is being used by increasing numbers of Afghan women to escape their dire circumstances, and women constitute the majority of Afghan suicides,” said the report

Murray Brewster

More Afghan women are choosing suicide to escape the violence and brutality of their daily lives, says a new human-rights report prepared by Canada's Foreign Affairs Department.

The 2008 annual assessment paints a grim picture of a country where violence against women and girls is common, despite rising public awareness among Afghans and international condemnation.

“Self-immolation is being used by increasing numbers of Afghan women to escape their dire circumstances, and women constitute the majority of Afghan suicides,” said the report, completed in November 2009.

The document was obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act.

The director of a burn unit at a hospital in the relatively peaceful province of Herat reported that in 2008 more than 80 women tried to kill themselves by setting themselves on fire, many of them in their early 20s.

Many of those women died, the report said.

The frank evaluation of the plight of women was written against the backdrop of international debate last year over the Afghanistan government's so-called rape law.

The legislation, aimed at courting votes in the minority Shiite community, legalized rape within a marriage. It prompted outrage in Canada and many other countries.

The move was an attempt to codify social and religious practises, but the international condemnation forced the government to review the law. It was eventually enacted with some amendments, although the basic tenets remained unchanged.

“Rape is widely believed to be a frequent occurrence, though its true extent is concealed by under-reporting owing to the social stigma attached to it,” says the 31-page, partly censored document.

The Afghan practice of “honour killings” has been cited as a major problem by both the Canadian Foreign Affairs Department and the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights.

http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2010/01/07/afghan-women-turning-to-suicide-in-greater-numbers-report.html