By Laclase.info
Humiliating acts against Islamic culture triggered the revolt
Afghanistan is experiencing one of its most important mass uprisings after the revelation that American soldiers had burned several copies of the Koran, the main religious text in Islam, at a military base— the country has been militarily occupied by US imperialism for more than a decade. The mass protests began six days ago as of this writing [Sunday the 26th], and so far, the crackdown has cost the lives of at least thirty protesters, while five invading US army soldiers have been executed— two of them by an Afghan officers— which shows that more and more Afghan security officials are turning their weapons against the invaders.
In a desperate move, Karzai, the puppet ruler, requested that the Obama administration punish those responsible for this outrage to Islamic culture. “The outrage of our people in this matter is legitimate and respectable,” said the president, while calling for calm. However, Karzai is widely discredited among Afghans who consider him to be an imperialist agent.
Weeks ago, a video was released in which US soldiers are seen urinating on the bodies of a group of dead Afghans. Internal cables released by Wikileaks show the existence of death squads from the invading army engaged in carrying out target assassinations against Afghan civilian population. Furthermore, drone planes are carrying out bombings against civilians on a regular basis. All these events have contributed to reinforcing the hatred of foreign military occupation.
Across the country, thousands of people are mobilizing against the military occupation. In Kunduz (northern Afghanistan) a demonstration of around twenty thousand people protested against an US military base; a protester threw a grenade at the soldiers, killing a U.S. soldier and wounding five others.
Abdul Sabbor is the name of security officer who is alleged to have executed two senior US high ranking military personnel; he fled the scene. Sabbor was one of the most senior security officials from the Afghan Interior Ministry. The attack prompted NATO to announce the withdrawal of all security consultants from Afghan ministries due to the possibility of more attacks by the security forces from the Afghan government.
Republicans criticize Obama for apologizing
U.S. President Barack Obama apologized for the burning of the Koran saying that it was unintentional. Sanitation workers responsible for garbage collection in one of the US military bases were the ones who discovered the remains of the burnt books.
Last year, a U.S. evangelical fanatic burned a copy of the Koran, and protests similar to those happening took place in Northern Afghanistan.
Rick Santorum, Republican presidential contender criticized President Obama’s apology, considering it a sign of weakness. The Republicans represent the most right-wing and reactionary wing of the U.S. regime.
Obama has raised the need of a gradual withdrawal of invading troops from Afghanistan but there are divisions amongst the imperialists on how to deal with a situation that augurs a new military and political defeat for the U.S., similar to the one in Iraq.
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