USA Today: Afghanistan Resembling Iraq

Posted on May 31, 2006

AP / Fraidoon Pooyaa

Afghans look at a burning police vehicle in Kabul on Monday, May 29. A deadly traffic accident involving U.S. troops sparked a riot in the capital Monday, with gunfire heard near the U.S. Embassy. At least three people died in the accident and a fourth person was reportedly killed by gunfire, police said. USA Today’s editorial board says that the violence in Afghanistan is starting to resemble that of Iraq.

In the wake of a massive anti-U.S. riot in the streets of Kabul, the paper’s editorial board writes that Afghanistan is starting to look like Iraq.

USA Today via Yahoo! News:

Like a fire that flares up after it was thought to have been extinguished, the conflict in Afghanistan is back in the headlines.

A deadly traffic accident caused by a U.S. military convoy touched off anti-American rioting Monday that left at least five Afghans dead and scores injured in the capital Kabul - a city that was supposed to be the safest place in the country.

The riots revealed a disturbing truth: At a time when the United States has enough trouble in Iraq, Afghanistan is increasingly beginning to resemble that war. The Kabul violence should be a wake-up call to the lingering dangers in a place largely forgotten since the U.S.-led invasion after 9/11 toppled the Taliban regime that harbored Osama bin Laden.

If Taliban and al-Qaeda forces regain control of parts of Afghanistan, it would be a serious setback for the U.S.-led war on terror. Americans would be less safe.

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