Afghans condemn killings in anti-U.S. protest
- 12 years ago
An effigy burns in Jalalabad.
It's part of the first demonstration in Afghanistan since a lone U.S. soldier gunned down 16 civilians - mostly women and children - in cold blood.
Around 2000 students are protesting against the United States.
A U.S. Army staff sergeant has been taken into custody, and stands accused of walking off his base in the volatile province of Kandahar late Sunday night and murdering the villagers.
Official have said the accused soldier had suffered a traumatic brain injury in Iraq.
For many here, the atrocity is the last straw - one man says it's time for foreign troops to get out of Afghanistan.
(SOUNDBITE) (Pashto) PROTESTER DADULLAH KHAN SAYING:
"We don't want any strategic partnership with the foreign troops, Afghans are independent people we want to live independently and we don't want to live under any country's colonisation, so once again we condemn the Kandahar incident with the strongest words and urge the authorities to put the criminal to trial."
U.S. President Barack Obama said the shootings have only increased his determination to get American troops out of the country.
But he cautioned that there shouldn't be a "rush to the exits", and that the troop drawdown set for the end of 2014 should be done in a responsible way.
Following the incident, the Afghan Taliban threatened to behead U.S. troops in revenge for the massacre.
Travis Brecher, Reuters
It's part of the first demonstration in Afghanistan since a lone U.S. soldier gunned down 16 civilians - mostly women and children - in cold blood.
Around 2000 students are protesting against the United States.
A U.S. Army staff sergeant has been taken into custody, and stands accused of walking off his base in the volatile province of Kandahar late Sunday night and murdering the villagers.
Official have said the accused soldier had suffered a traumatic brain injury in Iraq.
For many here, the atrocity is the last straw - one man says it's time for foreign troops to get out of Afghanistan.
(SOUNDBITE) (Pashto) PROTESTER DADULLAH KHAN SAYING:
"We don't want any strategic partnership with the foreign troops, Afghans are independent people we want to live independently and we don't want to live under any country's colonisation, so once again we condemn the Kandahar incident with the strongest words and urge the authorities to put the criminal to trial."
U.S. President Barack Obama said the shootings have only increased his determination to get American troops out of the country.
But he cautioned that there shouldn't be a "rush to the exits", and that the troop drawdown set for the end of 2014 should be done in a responsible way.
Following the incident, the Afghan Taliban threatened to behead U.S. troops in revenge for the massacre.
Travis Brecher, Reuters