| Blame game rages after Kabul riot Reuters
06/05/2006
By Simon Cameron-Moore
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KABUL - Blame the police, blame the opposition, blame agitators, criminals and opportunists, blame panicky American soldiers, blame bad brakes. Recriminations have reverberated around Kabul in the week since anti-American riots plunged the Afghan capital into a state of anarchy for a few hours after a U.S. military truck was involved in an accident. At least five Afghans were killed by the runaway truck, which the U.S. military says suffered brake failure, and seven were killed in the aftermath, some shot by American soldiers, according to a senior policeman. For President Hamid Karzai, whom detractors refer to as the "Mayor of Kabul" because of his government's weakness, the unrest has undermined his authority even more. "If you lose people's confidence it is very difficult to get it back. Unfortunately, he has lost this confidence because he has not been able to deliver," said Hamidullah Tarzi, a former minister in several governments. It is a scathing assessment of a president who was elected with a 55 percent majority 20 months ago in an election seen as a crucial step in a U.S. mission to spread democracy. "The more we speak about progress, democracy, the more we stir people's anger, for we have not been able to deliver what they need and what we promised," said Waheed Mozhda, a writer and former official in both Karzai's government and the Taliban's. Afghans see how a few have prospered. They see former faction commanders building shopping malls, and gleaming sports utility vehicles passing them by. They see the comforts enjoyed by western consultants and aid workers. But in an artificial economy, propped up by aid and drugs, there is little investment in production, and the majority wonder if they will ever benefit. PURGING POLICE Most Afghans deplored last Monday's violence, saying the protest over the accident was hijacked by petty criminals, agitators, loafers and schoolboys. Karzai's response has been to dish out blame, and put Afghan troops on the streets to maintain order instead of a police force regarded at best as inept and at worst as criminal. On Saturday, with the army still enforcing a night-time curfew, he moved to clean up the police and Interior Ministry, sacking Kabul's police chief and scores of officers in charge of departments and precincts. Karzai condemned the American soldiers for using their guns, although the U.S. military, which is investigating whether the soldiers fired into the crowd, says weapons were only used in self-defence. The incident has damaged relations between international forces, particularly the Americans, and Afghans, but most still see their presence as a unpleasant necessity. It is not just the Taliban insurgency going through its bloodiest period in 4 ½ years that they worry about. They fear Afghanistan could slide into civil war, as it did after the Soviet pull-out in 1989, unless foreign troops keep old factional commanders quiet. "We all know there is a dire need, until the Afghan National Army is built," says Mari, a slim, 30-year-old public prosecutor. "But there should be some limitations, regulations and laws. They should not fire, carry out operations and raids without any limitations." POLITICAL RIVALRY While none doubts the spark for last week's unrest was the accident, Western diplomats suspect members of an ethnic Tajik faction opposed to Karzai seized the opportunity to destabilise a government they feel is tilted too much toward Pashtuns, the largest of Afghanistan's ethnic groups. That the accident occurred in a neighbourhood close to the residence of Yunus Qanuni, a powerful Tajik and runner-up to Karzai in the presidential election, and the sight of protesters bearing posters of Qanuni's old boss, late guerrilla commander Ahmad Shah Masood, fed speculation. Conspiracy theories aside, the rioting exposed the fragility of the situation in Kabul. "If people have jobs, they will not resort to riots. If I am hungry, I will rise against Karzai," said Salim Shah, a shopkeeper whose nephew was injured when the U.S. truck ran out of control.
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