MESSAGE
| DATE | 2006-05-29 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [NYLXS - HANGOUT] World Events
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May 30, 2006 Anti-U.S. Rioting Erupts in Kabul; at Least 14 Dead By
CARLOTTA GALL
KABUL, Afghanistan, May 29 — A deadly traffic accident caused
by a United States military convoy quickly touched off a full-blown
antiAmerican riot on Monday that raged across much of the Afghan capital,
leaving at least 14 people dead and scores injured.
Witnesses said American soldiers fired on Afghans throwing stones at
them after the crash, though the United States military said only that
warning shots had been fired in the air.
But the crash tapped into a latent resentment of the American military
presence here, and violence radiated quickly through the city as rumors
circulated that the crash might have been deliberate. Gunfire rang out
as Afghan police officers and army soldiers tried to contain rioters who
rampaged through the streets for about six hours, burning and looting a
dozen offices, cars and police posts. By the end of the day at least 14
people were dead and more than 90 injured, hospital officials said. It
was the bloodiest day in the capital since the fall of the Taliban in
late 2001.
The Interior Ministry announced a nighttime curfew for the city for
the first time in four years, from 10 p.m. until 4 a.m., and President
Hamid Karzai called for calm on national television. "This country has
been destroyed for years by rioters," he said, "and they are using this
traffic incident as an excuse."
The speed and magnitude of the unrest was such that hundreds of police
officers and soldiers struggled to contain the violence. The Afghan
government and the American military authority issued statements promising
full investigations of the accident.
It became clear the American military and the Afghan police and army had
used their weapons to try to disperse the crowds. Scores of people were
treated in hospitals for gunshot wounds.
A 7-year-old boy was among the dead, and two more schoolchildren were
badly wounded, said Dr. Amin, the duty doctor at Khair Khana Hospital
in the northern part of Kabul, who like many Afghans uses only one
name. Four people died at the hospital, he said, and 60 wounded people
were given first aid before being transferred to other hospitals.
Although the sudden explosion of violence may have been a reaction to the
five deaths in the crash, it is a sign that Afghans are losing patience
with the government and the foreign military presence in Afghanistan,
residents said.
Ali Seraj, a businessman and a descendant of the Afghan royal family,
contended that the American military showed a careless attitude toward
human life that was becoming a growing problem, whether it was the bombing
of villages in counterinsurgency activities in southern Afghanistan or
car accidents in the capital.
"This type of attitude has created a great deal of mistrust and hatred,"
he said.
Just last week, President Karzai ordered an investigation of an American
airstrike on a village near Kandahar in the south that killed at least 35
civilians. In another episode, the United States military said last month
that it would investigate the killings of seven members of a family in
an airstrike in Kunar Province in the east during an operation against
insurgents.
On Monday, clashes began early in the morning when a truck leading an
American military convoy smashed into 12 cars in rush-hour traffic as it
went down a long hill from the Khair Khana pass just north of Kabul. Five
civilians were killed and more injured in the multiple crash, a statement
from Mr. Karzai's office said.
The United States military said in a statement, "A large cargo truck
apparently experienced a mechanical failure." The statement continued,
"This was a tragic incident, and we deeply regret any deaths or injuries
resulting from this incident."
An angry crowd gathered and began stoning the American convoy, and the
Afghan police when they arrived. "There are indications that at least
one coalition military vehicle fired warning shots over the crowd,"
the United States military statement said. "We will determine the facts
regarding the incident and cooperate fully with Afghan authorities."
Demonstrators and townspeople said the American troops had fired into
the crowd as people gathered and started throwing stones.
One demonstrator, called Ahmadullah, was still shouting, "Death to
Karzai!" and "Death to America!" hours after the initial event.
Demonstrators and townspeople also asserted that the American truck driver
had deliberately rammed vehicles as he led the convoy from Bagram Air
Base through outlying villages and then into the city. "The Americans
came all the way from Bagram to Kabul and killed about 20 people along
the way," said Fraidoon, a youth who was among the demonstrators.
He and other bystanders said up to a dozen demonstrators had been shot by
guards as they tried to break into a British security company's compound
in a downtown area.
Other protesters tried to reach the United States Embassy across town
but were prevented by armed blockades of Afghan police officers and
soldiers. Others attacked buildings in the commercial center of the
city, and some marched on Parliament in the city's southwest, attacking
a television company and pizzeria nearby.
By late afternoon the crowds had dispersed, leaving people to count the
casualties and put out fires. The offices of the aid organization CARE
International and the French nongovernmental organization known by the
acronym Acted, a pizzeria, a Chinese guesthouse and a post office were
among the buildings that were gutted by fire and ransacked.
Ground-floor windows of the newly opened Serena Hotel, Kabul's first
five-star hotel, were smashed, and traffic police officers sat outside
burnt roadside police posts. NATO troops evacuated diplomats and staff
members from a European Commission compound downtown.
Mr. Karzai blamed opportunists and rioters for the violence. "Wherever
you face these elements, do not let them destroy our home once again,"
he said.
In a sign of the political implications the event has for the government,
the president promised to investigate the circumstances of the crash
and to see that the Americans involved were punished if found to be
guilty. He added that he had received a visit Monday afternoon from the
United States ambassador, who had expressed his "deep regrets."
The demonstrators — overwhelmingly young men, even schoolchildren,
carrying sticks and stones — were angry at the reports of deaths,
but some also expressed frustration with the government, the police and
the generally poor standard of living.
"Most of the demonstrators are people who have lost their jobs, and the
government cannot provide the people with the basic necessities," said
Mukhtar Ziayee, 33, a real estate salesman. "The people are disappointed."
But others were armed and intent on violence and robbery, residents
said. Mohammed Arif Safajoy, the owner of the pizzeria that was attacked,
estimated the rioters had done $50,000 damage there.
"This was just a demonstration in name," he said. "They were looters,
these people who came to my restaurant." Among them were students from
a nearby high school, and they carried off electric fans, dishes and
antique ornaments, he said.
Hunger Strike at Guantánamo
MIAMI, May 29 (Reuters) — Seventy-five prisoners at the American naval
base at Guantánamo Bay were on a hunger strike on Monday, joining a
few who had refused food and been force-fed since August, a military
official said.
Detainees are counted as hunger strikers if they miss nine consecutive
meals, and most of the 75 reached that mark on Sunday, said a spokesman
for the Guantánamo detention operation. Most are refusing food but
continuing to drink liquids, he said.
Hunger strikes have occurred periodically since the first suspected
Taliban and Qaeda fighters were taken to the base in 2002.
Ruhullah Khapalwak and Abdul Waheed Wafa contributed reporting for
this article.
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