Posted on 05/29/2006 1:00:44 PM PDT by Flavius
Tim Albone, correspondent for The Times in Kabul, was caught in today's riots which he believes could mark a turning point in the Afghan's relations with coalition forces
"We tried to get out to where the accident happened on the outskirts of the city. I went in an Afghan car with a translator and photographer.
"We managed to get to within about a half-hour drive of where the accident happened and could hear gunfire. We stopped to ask what was going on.
"The mob crowded around the car and people were shouting: 'Let's get them - let's skin them alive'. We got out of there pretty quickly and as we were leaving we noticed a car was following behind.
"As we came onto a roundabout we ducked behind another car, pulled up onto the pavement and managed to lose him, thanks to the skill of our driver.
"I've been in Kabul for nine months and there has never been anything like this before. There is a real feeling in the air that today Kabul changed. There has been a lot of fighting in the south but this has mainly been between the militias and the American forces.
"Today it was angry teenagers - kids who have got nothing else to do. They are angry because they see all of the money being pumped into Afghanistan but still have no jobs.
"They are angry at the Americans who they see driving around as if they own the place and who appear to have caused this accident and then tried to drive away.
"I've spoken to friends who work in Iraq and they say that there was one day when it all changed. That could be the case here. They have realised that they can take on the police and take on the Americans - they could easily do it again.
"When the cartoons of Muhammad were published we saw maybe 300 people on the streets protesting. Today they were there in their thousands. There was gunfire outside the door of the Times office for about an hour, we could hear machine guns crackling.
"It was quite frightening. We're only two streets away from the Care International offices which were set alight. We could see the flames.
"By evening, the security forces appeared to have restored order. It's now very quiet and there are lots of police around, although interestingly there were no American troops or ISAF [the NATO-led international peacekeeping force] forces.
"The Americans are saying that this was just one day of unrest, but I was speaking to one guy and he was shouting: 'Death to America - death to Karzai...' There is a growing mood that the locals want the Americans to leave but that is simply not possible at the moment."
"They are angry at the Americans who they see driving around as if they own the place and who appear to have caused this accident and then tried to drive away.
according to this guys opinion the candy approach is backfiring
I guess the guy has never seen what happens in some of our large cities when the Cops go in to arrest some suspect.
I am willing to bet good money that they didn't have jobs become we came.
Al-Qaeda did the same stuff in Iraq so having their allies in Afghanistan do it wouldn't be a surprise.
We should turn these ingrates over to their former Taliban rulers. Then they'll be happy. They don't call it the "Turd World" for nothing.
Not sure exactly what's going on over there- but heard Lt. Col Bill Cowan on FOX earlier today- and he said he was really surprised at the anti-American sentiments he was observing- he'd not expected it.
Poppies = problems.
I've been through more than one riot right here in the United States. Once, in Brooklyn, I was shot at. The bullet went over my head, fortunately. It was all very frightening and sobering, but it wasn't the end of life as we know it.
We are wasting our time with them.
Of course not! The "darker side" of human nature is never evidenced in the streets of "First World Nations"......
What a a crock!!!!!!!!!!
Good idea, but don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.
I saw Cowan as well...he also wasn't very optomistic about the Haditha story.
I just saw footage from the Kabul riots...and some teenager was on the TV screaming that the American soldier driving the truck was drunk!! puh-lllllleeeze.
No matter what we do for or to them, at the end of the day, we are just infidels in their minds.
Are they sure this was over an auto accident? Maybe the Kabul Hoopsters won the championship and were celebrating "Detroit Style"...
Umgud, you are exactly right, you have hit the nail right on the head.
We're talking about sub-humans who worship a cult of death from the 12th century. People so depraved that they glory in blowing themselves up, of killing innocent people. These people are not ready for prime time. They are not ready for civilization. Left alone they will quickly revert to their norm,...violent religious-driven fanaticism. They are genetic spew. Let's pull out and see how many kill each other in the first 24 hours.
According to Mary Mapes' standard, this whole article could be 100% fantasy and the reader has to prove it to be false.
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