Afghans Protest Death of Lawmakers Relative

‘This man had five children. The Americans have created five more enemies’

Afghans burn tires during a protest in the Surkh Rod district of Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, on Thursday, April 29, 2010.
(Photo credit: Rahmat Gul / AP)

Reuters and The Associated Press via MSNBC.com
April 29, 2010

NAZARABAD, Afghanistan — U.S. troops raided the home of a female member of the Afghan parliament and killed a neighbor who was one of her relatives, the MP said on Thursday, an incident that sparked angry protests in the east. …

Night-time raids by Western troops and civilian casualties are among the most incendiary issues in Afghanistan, and the targeting of a female parliamentarian would raise the political temperature at a time when NATO is preparing a large offensive.

Safia Sediqi, an outspoken member of parliament from eastern Nangarhar province, said scores of U.S. soldiers raided her village home shortly before midnight.

Inside the house, they broke furniture and tied up family members, including her brother, for hours, she said. Outside, they shot dead a neighbor, who was also a relative by marriage.

“I will raise my voice. I am a member of parliament, my residence must be protected,” Sediqi told Reuters. “This man had five children. The Americans have created five more enemies.”

She said she had phoned Afghan authorities from inside the house during the raid to try to have it stopped, but the U.S. troops had the compound surrounded and did not let Afghan forces interfere. …

Civilian deaths at the hands of U.S. and other international forces are highly sensitive in Afghanistan. Public outrage over such deaths prompted the top commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal last year to tighten the rules on the use of air strikes and other weaponry if civilians are at risk.

Scores of angry residents brought the dead man’s body to a main road on Thursday, chanting anti-American and anti-government slogans. They said they would not bury the body until they received a proper explanation of how he was killed. …

Video

U.S. raid death sparks protests in Afghanistan (NBC Today, April 29, 2010) — Hundreds of angry protesters stormed the streets of Afghanistan after a relative of a member of the Afghan parliament was killed during a U.S. raid of the official’s home. TODAYshow.com’s Dara Brown reports. (00:42)

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Video

Karzai criticizes NATO over civilian deaths (NBC Nightly News, Feb. 20, 2010) — In a speech to the opening session of parliament, President Hamid Karzai urged NATO to do more to protect civilians during combat operations to secure Marjah, although he noted the military alliance had made progress in doing that, mainly by reducing airstrikes and adopting more restrictive combat rules. Karzai also reached out to Taliban fighters, urging them to renounce al-Qaida and join with the government. NBC’s Brian Williams reports. (00:30)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — April 29, 2009

Iraqis protest as Iraqi army officers hold them back following several car bombs in the marketplace in Baghdad’s eastern Sadr City district on Wednesday, April 29, 2009. (Photo credit: Ahmad al-Rubaye / AFP — Getty Images)

Iraqi Neglect Costs U.S. Taxpayers

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that Iraq was falling fall far behind schedule in creating a system to maintain its own military equipment, costing American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars to fill in the gaps, according to a U.S. audit by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction. Meanwhile, the death toll from twin car bomb blasts in a crowded Baghdad market rose to 51. The car bombs, which also wounded 76 people in the capital’s sprawling Sadr City slum, followed a series of other attacks in the previous two weeks, stirring fears of a return to broader sectarian bloodshed in Iraq.