News

Tensions are once again rising in Afghanistan in the wake of a
Tuesday incident in which US helicopters killed nine children in the
Kunar Province who were gathering firewood on the side of a mountain.

The killings were quickly admitted to by officials, and Gen David
Petraeus officially apologized, as did President Obama. But President
Karzai, in a teleconference with Obama today, insisted that an apology
was simply not good enough.

“The people of Afghanistan are fed up from these brutal incidents
and apologies and condemnation cannot cure their pain,” Karzai insisted,
and indeed with a number of high profile killings all coming in the
past few weeks, claims that they are isolated incidents are becoming
harder and harder to sell.

And the protests against the killings are spreading too, as hundreds
took to the streets of Kabul today, burning an effigy of President
Obama and condemning the air strikes. Previous protests against the
strike had been reported in Kunar Province.