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Germans ditch Afghan base after Koran burning
Published: 24 Feb 12 10:43 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20120224-40957.html
Escalating unrest following the burning of the Koran by US soldiers has forced Germany to give up one of its Afghanistan bases earlier than planned.
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A Bundeswehr spokesman said the troops had taken all military vehicles with them, but it remained unclear whether the soldiers would return at a later date to complete the clear-out. The relatively small camp is said to be difficult to secure, since it is in the middle of the town of Taloqan, capital of the Takhar province, with a population of 200,000.
State broadcaster ZDF reported that stones had been thrown at the camp, which was also attacked in May last year, when several people were shot dead. Taloqan is also the town where an Afghan police chief and two Bundeswehr soldiers were killed in an attack on the governor’s palace last year.
Unrest has escalated dramatically following the alleged burning of several copies of the Koran by US soldiers at their Bagram base earlier this week. The exact circumstances of the burning remain unclear - the holy texts were apparently burnt accidentally on a garbage heap by soldiers unaware of what they were.
Several people have been killed during violent protests since then, and two soldiers from the NATO-led international mission ISAF were shot dead by an Afghan soldier on Thursday.
US President Barack Obama’s official apology to his Afghan counterpart Harmid Karzai has done little to quell the protests, which have been joined by thousands of Afghans across the country.
The Taliban has sworn revenge for the incident and called on Afghan soldiers to abandon their posts, promising to welcome all deserters as “heroes.”
DPA/The Local/bk
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Your comments about this article:
Karzai is corrupt and a puppet of the west he will only remain as long as NATO does. Give the people what they want, now.
German soldiers mean nothing when it placates Congress Creatures' sense of control and domain. German soldiers will be brought home when the time is right without stirring up too much conservative rage in the USA and the bleeding hearts in Germany can be backed off from doing good. It's not like Germany's involvement in AFG had anything to do with military training or experience. Germany's military is a joke and it's people have been emasculated to a point of self-destruction.
After 9-11, Bush Jr./Cheney used that event to invade Afgh., and then, more incompetently and a definite overreach, invade Iraq. The US generals who advised just to bomb the Taliban in Afgh. and forget Iraq were fired or demoted. They knew the mission was a quagmire, that Karzai was unstable, and that no amount of nation building would work there. Even the Russians said, "Don't go there."
We're dealing with a populace that is incredibly backward who are manipulated by mullahs and imams intent on stirring up conflict. However, you'd think US soldiers and the command would know better than to burn Korans in front of Afghani Muslims who work on base. Amazing that those books were not given to Muslim religious authorities to dispose of, so as not to cause this unnecessary blowup.
Why is it necessary to do a Dresden bombing before leaving? When you say there is nothing of value there, I assume you are also referring to human life? Newborn babies and young children?
Why don't you join the militar, carlm, an d use your poisonous hatred there? Maybe you could even manage to get yourself shot, in the face, so that you are unable to run our vicious mouth.
You are sickening, carlm. You are disgusting in your attitudes. You make humanity look very bad!
Pres. Clinton told the incoming Bush admin. that al-Queda was a specific threat, but the Cheneyites dismissed those warnings, and said, no, building a star wars missile defense would be the new priority. Then, as soon as Clinton left office, they began to dismantle counter-terrorism programs that had provided that info on al-Queda.
That Boeing jets could be effective guided missiles was explicitly known about. Our government on 9-11 failed us by ignoring that warning, the factual advice, and the urgent appeals from our own security apparatus.
It wasn't "ignoring" them that allowed 9-11 to happen. It was incompetence.
When Clinton took action to bomb a suspected al-Queda location, he was roundly criticized by the GOP and conservative media as trying to deflect attention away from all the fake scandals thrown at him.
You mistake Clarke's position and belief about the Cheney admin's responsibility: "Counterterrorism ¦quot;tsar¦quot; Richard Clarke . . . suggested that 9/11 might have been stopped ¦quot;if [National Security Adviser] Rice and the president had acted personally, gotten involved, shaken the trees, gotten the Cabinet members involved when they had ample warning in June and July and August that something was about to happen.… [Rice] said that the president received 40 warnings face to face from the director of central intelligence that a major al-Qaeda attack was going to take place and she admitted that the president did not have a meeting on the subject, did not convene the Cabinet."
So, over 40 warnings and the PDB about precisely what was going to happen and no action. Nothing but incompetence. And certainly nothing that Clinton could have done anything about, at that point. He told them to watch, and they didn't.
Away, the USA will need our help in Iran when they or the Israelis attacks it..