Yesterday, riots swept across cities and towns in Afghanistan. The rioters, egged on by radicals and the Taleban chanted “Death to America” and other familiar slogans. The riots resulted in the deaths of at least 14 people with over 100 injured.

The chaos began after US troops were involved in a car accident as they traveled through the streets of Kabul. US Convoys normally travel through town a top speed to avoid incidents; in this particular case, however, at least one cargo vehicle struck an undetermined number of civilian vehicles resulting in Afghani deaths. This tragic situation was made all the worse when local agitators decided to capitalize on the incident by causing a riot, a riot which killed and injured far more people than the initial accident.

Clearly the US forces involved were at fault for the initial accident and just restitution should be made to the victims and their families, but does this justify rioting? Exactly how many Afghanis have died at the hands of radicals in that country since the fall of the Taleban? Where was the outrage then?

Here again we have another case of distraction where those with an agenda use unfortunate incidents such as an accident to fan the flames of violence and mayhem. Such incidents highlight the difficulties faced by the US and its collation partners in their (misguided) nation-building efforts, we are dealing with a culture of violence and tyranny a culture in which good deeds are ignored and mistakes are magnified. In the minds of these people the US can do no good, which begs the question, why remain? Iraq and Afghanistan will never truly be pacified and 100 years from now they will be as much our enemy as they are today. Once the threat is eliminated, why not withdraw and leave these vicious gangs and radicals to slaughter each other as is their desire.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/05/30/afghan.protest/index.html