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Afghan villagers in fear of US troops
Sher-O-Aba, Afghanistan, Aug 15: When US forces entered a remote Afghan village recently to hunt Taliban and al Qaeda rebels, locals hurriedly hid their Korans in a sack.
Sher-O-Aba, Afghanistan, Aug 15: When US forces entered a remote Afghan village recently to hunt Taliban and al Qaeda rebels, locals hurriedly hid their Korans in a sack.
Baffled soldiers who discovered the copies of Islam's holy book asked an elder what was happening. He told them that villagers feared they would be killed merely for being Muslims.
The misunderstanding underlines the depth of confusion and mistrust caused by foreign troops in Afghanistan, particularly in rural areas in the south and east where the coalition is most active in its hunt for ''terrorists''.
In many cases that mistrust has turned to hatred, as aggressive search tactics and a general sense among Muslims of being under siege plays into the hands of the very people the US military is trying to wipe out.
''On the slightest suspicion they arrest us and treat us like animals,'' said Haji Allah Dad, a 50-year-old resident of Sher-o-Aba, a village six km (four miles) east of the town of Spin Boldak on the border with Pakistan.
''Their treatment is so inhuman that sometimes we even think of joining the 'Jihad' (holy war) of the Taliban against them.''
Villagers in Sher-o-Aba are incensed at what they call arbitrary arrests and physical abuse by US troops, who clashed with suspected Taliban sympathisers in the area in late July.
US forces, aid workers, foreign peacekeepers and government troops are all facing a rising threat in Afghanistan, with no apparent let-up in the hit-and-run tactics of Taliban or al Qaeda militants operating from along the Afghan-Pakistan border.
Attacks using grenades, small arms, mines and improvised bombs bear an uncanny resemblance to the methods used by Saddam loyalists against the US military in Iraq.
US military spokesman Colonel Rodney Davis said that, in his experience, US forces always tried to conduct themselves well.
''Coalition forces are not here to hurt native Afghans,'' he said. ''They are not here to damage or steal anything from Afghans. They are here to help Afghan people.''
Bureau Report
Baffled soldiers who discovered the copies of Islam's holy book asked an elder what was happening. He told them that villagers feared they would be killed merely for being Muslims.
The misunderstanding underlines the depth of confusion and mistrust caused by foreign troops in Afghanistan, particularly in rural areas in the south and east where the coalition is most active in its hunt for ''terrorists''.
In many cases that mistrust has turned to hatred, as aggressive search tactics and a general sense among Muslims of being under siege plays into the hands of the very people the US military is trying to wipe out.
''On the slightest suspicion they arrest us and treat us like animals,'' said Haji Allah Dad, a 50-year-old resident of Sher-o-Aba, a village six km (four miles) east of the town of Spin Boldak on the border with Pakistan.
''Their treatment is so inhuman that sometimes we even think of joining the 'Jihad' (holy war) of the Taliban against them.''
Villagers in Sher-o-Aba are incensed at what they call arbitrary arrests and physical abuse by US troops, who clashed with suspected Taliban sympathisers in the area in late July.
US forces, aid workers, foreign peacekeepers and government troops are all facing a rising threat in Afghanistan, with no apparent let-up in the hit-and-run tactics of Taliban or al Qaeda militants operating from along the Afghan-Pakistan border.
Attacks using grenades, small arms, mines and improvised bombs bear an uncanny resemblance to the methods used by Saddam loyalists against the US military in Iraq.
US military spokesman Colonel Rodney Davis said that, in his experience, US forces always tried to conduct themselves well.
''Coalition forces are not here to hurt native Afghans,'' he said. ''They are not here to damage or steal anything from Afghans. They are here to help Afghan people.''
Bureau Report