Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Afghanistan?

I could have sworn I saw pictures of people voting there.

Follow this link to a good and disturbing analysis of the Taliban's hold on rural Afghanistan. Then have a look at this piece about the riots in Kabul following the accident on Monday involving a U.S. Army truck:
Protesters on Monday vilified the US, marching through the streets of the city to the gates of the National Assembly and US embassy. Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, was also criticised.

Karzai, in a televised address to the nation, called the rioters "opportunists and agitators" who could not be allowed to destroy a country still trying to emerge from conflict that has gripped it since 1979.Karzai won an election in late 2004, winning more than 50% of the vote, but he has been unable to shake off the perception that he owes his position to US backing.

Fighting in the south and east, where the Taliban are gaining strength, has left 350 people dead in the last couple of weeks alone.Karzai's critics call him the "mayor of Kabul", because of the instability in the rural provinces, but the unrest on Monday showed the fragility of the situation in the capital as well.

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