Okay, I'm waiting for the outcry and condemnation by Afghan President Karzai for an IED attack by the Taliban on a bus that killed 20 innocent civilians. I've been waiting since the news came out and Karzai STILL hasn't condemned this attack...funny isn't it? You know, if a NATO airstrike had mistakenly killed 20 civilians, Karzai would be on the front pages crying bloody murder but since it was the Taliban that killed all of these people, we hear nothing but crickets from the Afghan leader. And it's always been like that. Apparently President Karzai feels that if he criticizes the U.S. or NATO, he will get some "bounce" from his people but if he criticizes the Taliban, he might get dead.
From the report at DAWN:
Twenty Afghan civilians including women and children were killed in a volatile southwestern province Thursday when a landmine exploded under a bus they were travelling in, police said.
“An IED (improvised explosive device) struck a bus, 20 civilians were killed,” said senior police figure Haji Mosa Rasooli, accusing the Taliban of being responsible for the blast.
The Islamist militants, who have been waging a near decade long insurgency against the Afghan government and foreign forces, were not immediately available for comment.
The blast occurred in the remote Nimroz province at around 4:00pm (1130 GMT) in the region’s Khash Rod district on the main highway to Kandahar, the de facto capital of southern Afghanistan.
The incident came on the same day as a father, a mother and their four children were killed in southern Afghanistan when a roadside bomb ripped through their car.
You can see from the article that this wasn't the only Taliban killing of innocents today but afterall, it happens every single damn day in either Afghanistan or Pakistan. This kind of reminds me of the anti-war protesters in America back during the height of the Iraq War - the protesters would throw out these outlandish numbers of Iraqi civilians killed during the Iraq War and how it was the fault of Bush and the military - what they didn't tell you was that 95% of the civilian deaths were due to the actions of al Qaeda in Iraq.
It's gotten to the point in covering the Taliban that I've come to the conclusion that they are like heroin addicts - the heroin addict simply has to have his or her daily "fix" - it's a must and the Taliban need their daily fix of death...and when the Taliban can't find an American troop or a NATO troop or an Afghan troop or Afghan policeman to kill....they simply kill civilians. It's all about death and destruction. It's about blood letting. It's about offering up fresh blood to a moon god.
Twenty civilians killed in Afghan mine bus blast: police
KABUL: Twenty Afghan civilians including women and children were killed in a volatile southwestern province Thursday when a landmine exploded under a bus they were travelling in, police said.
“An IED (improvised explosive device) struck a bus, 20 civilians were killed,” said senior police figure Haji Mosa Rasooli, accusing the Taliban of being responsible for the blast.
The Islamist militants, who have been waging a near decade long insurgency against the Afghan government and foreign forces, were not immediately available for comment.
The blast occurred in the remote Nimroz province at around 4:00pm (1130 GMT) in the region’s Khash Rod district on the main highway to Kandahar, the de facto capital of southern Afghanistan.
The incident came on the same day as a father, a mother and their four children were killed in southern Afghanistan when a roadside bomb ripped through their car.
The family were travelling to Lashkar Gah, the main town in Helmand province, when they were killed, provincial spokesman Daud Ahmadi said.
Although the attack bore the hallmarks of the Taliban, who frequently plant roadside bombs in Afghanistan’s restive regions, the militant Islamist network declined to comment on the attack.
Civilians are the biggest casualties in the near 10-year war in Afghanistan, where 150,000 foreign forces are stationed.
Last year was the bloodiest yet for civilians, with the United Nations recording 2,777 fatalities?
A total of 368 civilians were killed in May alone according to figures released by the UN mission in Afghanistan, with insurgent attacks blamed for 301 of those.
The latest civilian deaths are a reminder of the depth of the task facing the Afghan government as it takes increasing responsibility for security following the announcement of the first wave of foreign troop withdrawals.
The drawdown, which will start in July, will include the departure of 10,000 US troops this year despite questions from analysts over whether Afghan security forces can cope in their absence.
The UN has blamed insurgents for more than three-quarters of the civilian deaths last year.
Civilian casualties have long been a bone of contention between successive US administrations and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is struggling to win the hearts and minds of Afghans and deprive the Taliban of propaganda victories.
In early June he issued a “last warning” to the US military to avoid “arbitrary and unnecessary” operations that kill civilians, after he said 14 people died in an air strike in Helmand province.
US President Barack Obama apologised for that incident, which the Nato-led International Security Force (ISAF) said killed nine civlians.
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