Demonstrators protesting at the American presence in Afghanistan and allegations of desecration of the Koran during Gitmo Bay interrogations again took to the streets yesterday, their third day of protests. So far 8 protestors have been shot dead by security forces and over a hundred have been injured, while another 3 civilians have been killed by a roadside bomb. The unrest in the past three days has also claimed the life of a prominent local political figure who was killed in Ghazni Province, south of Kabul, in an attack that the governor, Asadullah Khan, attributed to Taliban insurgents. Two of the attackers were killed and seven arrested.
Islamic fundamentalist political parties, remnants of the former Taliban government and a renegade anti-American commander, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, are all possible sources of the violence, said Lutfullah Mashal, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry.
The American military is still trying to analyze whether the violence is politically driven, instigated by outsiders or a sign of general public frustration with the slow pace of reconstruction in the country, said a spokesman, Col. James Yonts.
I suspect that the answer is "all of the above", at least in part, which should serve as a clear warning that all the good done in Afghanistan so far could yet become undone. As I have said before, there is still much that is being done poorly to help the nascent Afghani democracy and the situation there could still change to become more like that of the Soviet occupation if things are left to continue along their present course. In fact, I believe that is exactly what will happen, I am afraid to say. I truly hope I am wrong.
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