When will the sheeple in the West wake up? The Afghan people are telling us quite clearly who is responsible for the violence that afflicts them... And it ain't the Talibaan! Even if you don't give a crap about the Afghans, at least have the self respect to realise you're being duped.

Of course you could always just lull yourselves back into that deluded stupor you've been in for so long by claiming "The Talibaan forced them to protest at gunpoint".... 

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Afghan villagers protest night raid

Hundreds of villagers have blocked a highway in eastern Afghanistan to protest a night raid by Nato and Afghan soldiers that left two people dead.

A statement from the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said two "Taliban insurgents" were killed in the raid in a district near Jalalabad.

But villagers said the men were civilians; their protest temporarily closed the highway connecting Jalalabad to Pakistan on Wednesday.

"The Americans who killed these people should come and see whether it is civilians or insurgents they killed," Mohammad Gul, one of the protesters, said. "We need an explanation from them."

Many of the protesters chanted anti-American slogans, like "down with Obama" and "down with foreign forces," during the hours-long protest.

Isaf said the men had been involved in roadside bomb attacks, and that Nato and Afghan soldiers were fired upon from "multiple directions" as they entered the compound.

Routine civilian casualties

The protest mirrored a similar demonstration last week, when Nato and Afghan forces raided a house in Wardak province. Neighbours claimed the night raid killed three civilians, and hundreds of them took to the streets to protest the following afternoon.

Afghans have staged a number of similar protests in recent months: Villagers near Jalalabad burned tyres in May after a night raid killed at least nine people, and hundreds protested after Nato troops opened fire on a bus in Kandahar in April.

General Stanley McChrystal, the former commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, issued a classified directive earlier this year calling on troops to limit their use of night raids, which routinely result in civilian casualties.

A United Nations report released last week found that raids by Nato troops killed 41 civilians in the first half of 2010.

Night raids have been a particular point of friction between Nato and Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president. Karzai demanded an end to all night raids in February.

Source: al-Jazeerah

Since submitting to the Angel of Death, Karzai has found some peace. Not too much, mind you, but enough to get the monkey off his back. Karzai's servant has managed to find his pipe, and Karzai is back on the horse. The Chinaman's nightcap. The Black Nurse.

"Why not?" Karzai asks. "We all will surely die. Why not have a little peace while we still live? God knows how much I have to deal with around here!"

The problem is, the Angel of Death has been asking for more and more. Not content with forty suicide bombers, the names and addresses of key aid distributers to be given to the Taliban, and the pseudenems and locations of key Taliban organisers to be given to the CIA, the Angel of Death comes up with a new demand every day.

"This will be the last time," Karzai tells himself, but he always gives in to the Angel of Death's seductive charms and rhetoric.

"You must live, habibi, for there is nothing surer than death. Live for this day that the Lord has made, insh'allah, and offer it to God."

"Yes, yes, I do."

"Have you said your prayers today, my child?"

"Well..."

"You must pray to God, dear one. It is through prayer that we please Him."

"Yes, I know. I've just had a lot..."

"Now have you done what I asked of you?"

"Yes! But no more, Mistress, please. It is giving me heart arhythmia already."

"You must submit, my dear one. I ask for nothing less than complete obedience."

"But I give and give! The CIA are starting to sniff around, and now the Taliban are getting suspicious! I have to live with these people!"

"This should not be your concern. You must submit and have faith. Only then can you find peace."

"I know..."

"Now. That servant of yours - I want him in the cabinet. I want you to give him, I don't know, Mining and Energy."

"But Mistress, this post is held by a very well connected Pashtun chieftain - he is extremely influential. I cannot take his portfolio away without severe political consequences. He can ruin me!"

"Where is your faith, my child? God gives nothing without obedience."

"I know, I know..."

"Let it be."

The Angel of Death fades into the darkness and Karzai gazes into the night. His servant? Why not his camel? A thousand camels, it would make no difference. That Pashtun could bear a grudge that lights a fire to all of Afghanistan. But that wan't the problem. Already, he had villagers lighting fires in the streets. That Pashtun could set fire to Karzai. Literally.

"Oh, Mother of Death, Angel of Life, whatever will happen next?"

There you go again.  Why on earth do you have the ridiculous idea that we are there to establish/defend democracy?  In fact, we are there to:

1.  Make big rock into little rocks, and/or
2.  Attack/disrupt a safe haven used as a Home by Muslim Terrorists.