There was relief and rejoicing, apprehension and anger. But although the death ofOsama bin Laden unleashed a gamut of emotions among ordinary Afghans, few here believe that his demise signals an end to a grinding, nearly decade-long war.
In a country where virtually every aspect of daily life has been marked by the long repercussions of the Talibanmovement's fatal entanglement with Al Qaeda and its chieftain, many saw his killing by U.S. forces as long-delayed justice.
"He paid for his crimes," President Hamid Karzai told an audience at a rural development conference.
At military bases across Afghanistan, there was fist-pumping satisfaction and a swell of pride among U.S. troops — some of whom were still in elementary school when the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks took place. But the news provided little respite from the prosecution of a war that has grown markedly bloodier in recent weeks.
Western military deaths are marching ever higher, with April's fatality toll jumping by one-third over the same month a year earlier. Last month, 52 NATO troops were killed, compared with 34 in April 2010, according to the website icasualties.org. As has long been the battlefield trend, the bulk of last month's military deaths — 45 — were Americans.
How much of a blow the death of Bin Laden will be for the Taliban movement is already being debated. Many believe that his leadership of Al Qaeda had little meaningful relationship with the day-to-day conflict between NATO forces and insurgents.
"Here in the south, especially, it won't affect operations by the Taliban; he wasn't the one running things," said Mohammad Omari, a Kandahar man in his 30s. "Just look what is happening here every day."
Kandahar, the Taliban heartland, has been rocked in recent weeks by violence and a surge of insurgent activity, including a prison break that freed hundreds of Taliban and the assassination of the provincial police chief.
A Taliban spokesman refused comment on the death, saying the movement did not know whether the American account of Bin Laden's killing was true. A Taliban field commander in southern Afghanistan, reached through intermediaries, said his fighters would redouble their efforts to kill coalition troops.
"Why would this make us stop?" he said.
There were early signs too that the Taliban would seek to portray the killing of Bin Laden as an attack on all Muslims, despite President Obama's explicit declaration that the act of hunting down and killing the Al Qaeda leader did not represent a war against Islam.
"It's a big, big loss for all good Muslims," said Abdul Hai, a turbaned, bearded Kandahari who looked grimly furious when asked about the death.
Senior U.S. officials sought to dispel any impression of an anti-Muslim vendetta and challenged the folk-hero status that Bin Laden enjoyed in some quarters here.
"Afghans have suffered as much as any other nation from the campaign of terror that [Bin Laden] and his extremist followers undertook," U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl W. Eikenberry said in a statement. "His victims — Afghan, American and from many other nations — will never be forgotten."
Many fear retribution, at a time when insurgent attacks are already maiming and killing unprecedented numbers of Afghan civilians.
"This will have a very bad effect on the morale of the insurgents, and they will try to retaliate, probably more aggressively," said Noor-ul Haq Ulomi, a military analyst and former parliamentarian from Kandahar.
Afghanistan's relationship with Pakistan has long been fraught by its neighbor's sheltering of insurgent figures. Ulomi, like many others, said the circumstances of Bin Laden's death pointed up the need to clear militant havens on the Pakistani side of the border.
"Osama bin Laden is dead, but terrorist forces, terrorist infrastructure and terrorist setups still exist in Pakistan," he said. "The death … proves to the world that terrorist centers are in Pakistan, and Pakistan intelligence is behind and supporting them."
It was morning in Afghanistan when the news broke, with many people on their way to work or school when Obama's announcement was made. The news spread less quickly here than elsewhere, because Internet access is not widespread, particularly in the countryside. But by midmorning, many passersby were wearing broad grins.
"The people of Afghanistan are very happy today," said Rahim Sardar, a 26-year-old physician. "They're thinking that this might help Afghanistan become a better and more peaceful country."
In a country where virtually every aspect of daily life has been marked by the long repercussions of the Talibanmovement's fatal entanglement with Al Qaeda and its chieftain, many saw his killing by U.S. forces as long-delayed justice.
At military bases across Afghanistan, there was fist-pumping satisfaction and a swell of pride among U.S. troops — some of whom were still in elementary school when the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks took place. But the news provided little respite from the prosecution of a war that has grown markedly bloodier in recent weeks.
Western military deaths are marching ever higher, with April's fatality toll jumping by one-third over the same month a year earlier. Last month, 52 NATO troops were killed, compared with 34 in April 2010, according to the website icasualties.org. As has long been the battlefield trend, the bulk of last month's military deaths — 45 — were Americans.
How much of a blow the death of Bin Laden will be for the Taliban movement is already being debated. Many believe that his leadership of Al Qaeda had little meaningful relationship with the day-to-day conflict between NATO forces and insurgents.
"Here in the south, especially, it won't affect operations by the Taliban; he wasn't the one running things," said Mohammad Omari, a Kandahar man in his 30s. "Just look what is happening here every day."
Kandahar, the Taliban heartland, has been rocked in recent weeks by violence and a surge of insurgent activity, including a prison break that freed hundreds of Taliban and the assassination of the provincial police chief.
A Taliban spokesman refused comment on the death, saying the movement did not know whether the American account of Bin Laden's killing was true. A Taliban field commander in southern Afghanistan, reached through intermediaries, said his fighters would redouble their efforts to kill coalition troops.
"Why would this make us stop?" he said.
There were early signs too that the Taliban would seek to portray the killing of Bin Laden as an attack on all Muslims, despite President Obama's explicit declaration that the act of hunting down and killing the Al Qaeda leader did not represent a war against Islam.
"It's a big, big loss for all good Muslims," said Abdul Hai, a turbaned, bearded Kandahari who looked grimly furious when asked about the death.
Senior U.S. officials sought to dispel any impression of an anti-Muslim vendetta and challenged the folk-hero status that Bin Laden enjoyed in some quarters here.
"Afghans have suffered as much as any other nation from the campaign of terror that [Bin Laden] and his extremist followers undertook," U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl W. Eikenberry said in a statement. "His victims — Afghan, American and from many other nations — will never be forgotten."
Many fear retribution, at a time when insurgent attacks are already maiming and killing unprecedented numbers of Afghan civilians.
"This will have a very bad effect on the morale of the insurgents, and they will try to retaliate, probably more aggressively," said Noor-ul Haq Ulomi, a military analyst and former parliamentarian from Kandahar.
Afghanistan's relationship with Pakistan has long been fraught by its neighbor's sheltering of insurgent figures. Ulomi, like many others, said the circumstances of Bin Laden's death pointed up the need to clear militant havens on the Pakistani side of the border.
"Osama bin Laden is dead, but terrorist forces, terrorist infrastructure and terrorist setups still exist in Pakistan," he said. "The death … proves to the world that terrorist centers are in Pakistan, and Pakistan intelligence is behind and supporting them."
It was morning in Afghanistan when the news broke, with many people on their way to work or school when Obama's announcement was made. The news spread less quickly here than elsewhere, because Internet access is not widespread, particularly in the countryside. But by midmorning, many passersby were wearing broad grins.
"The people of Afghanistan are very happy today," said Rahim Sardar, a 26-year-old physician. "They're thinking that this might help Afghanistan become a better and more peaceful country."
0 comments:
Post a Comment