Afghanistan: 4 UN office compounds and human rights office looted & burned

[G_j]

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/13/international/asia/13herat.html?th=&pagewanted=print&position=

September 13, 2004

Afghan Crowds Loot and Burn Over Governor's Dismissal
By CARLOTTA GALL

HERAT, Afghanistan, Sept. 12 - Violent demonstrators ransacked and burned at least four United Nations office compounds and a human rights office here on Sunday as they clashed with the national police and army in an angry protest at the removal of Gov. Ismail Khan by the central government.

Four people were killed and up to 50 wounded, most of them civilian demonstrators suffering from gunshot wounds, doctors at the provincial hospital said. Fifteen American soldiers and two national army soldiers were injured, mostly from stones and bricks hurled at them, said Anne Bodine, an American State Department official based in Herat.

The violence and extensive damage was a major blow to the central government of President Hamid Karzai, which had sent 1,000 soldiers and hundreds of national police officers to secure the area for the arrival of the new governor from Kabul. Now, with the Oct. 9 elections nearing, the United Nations' activities will be severely hampered in the whole western part of the country.

The police chief of Herat ordered a general curfew after 9 p.m. and banned any large gatherings. At the urging of the American ambassador in Kabul, Zalmay Khalilzad, Mr. Khan went on local television to ask citizens not to be angry at his dismissal and not to destroy property and cause instability.



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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=516&ncid=721&e=10&u=/ap/20040912/ap_on_re_as/afghan_ousted_warlord

Protesters Attack Soldiers in Afghanistan

Sun Sep 12,10:50 AM ET

By STEPHEN GRAHAM, Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan - Demonstrators stormed U.N. compounds and stoned U.S. soldiers in a tense western Afghan city, officials said Sunday, a day after the government sacked its warlord governor.

About a dozen people were reported injured — most with bullet wounds — as security forces tried to keep order in Herat following the replacement of Gov. Ismail Khan. The office of one international aid group was also ransacked.

The violence was a challenge to U.S.-backed interim leader Hamid Karzai, who ordered Khan's removal and has sent more than 1,000 Western-trained national army soldiers and police to Herat ahead of Oct. 9 presidential elections.

Karzai condemned the rioters, saying they were damaging Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s fragile peace process

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[Jacobin]

1. Russians must be having trouble suppressing a wicked grin

at this news, seeing as how we armed the muj to fight against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan.

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Karzai is on the path followed by his Soviet backed predecessor

if he doesn't watch out he will be hanging from a tree.

[huckleberry]

3. how will this affect bush's photo op??

from today's Washington Post ---

"Administration officials disclosed plans yesterday that show the many ways Bush will try to emphasize his role as commander in chief. He will interrupt his swing-state travel in just over a week to go before cameras at the United Nations with the interim president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai. Two days later, Bush will welcome Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, to the Rose Garden."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16750-2004Sep12.html

[G_j]

4. oh he'll get the usual free ride

people who watch the news will think there are few nasty problems in Iraq and maybe even Afghanistan but will never be told that it is all falling apart.