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Afghans rally anger { May 7 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22909-2003May6.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22909-2003May6.html
Afghans Rally in Anger Toward U.S.
Protesters Say U.S. Hasn't Kept Promises to Rebuild Nation After War
By April Witt
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 7, 2003; Page A27
KABUL, Afghanistan, May 6 -- Hundreds of protesters chanting "Death to Bush" and "Long live Islam" marched through Afghanistan's capital today in the first anti-American protest to erupt here since the United States and its allies drove the Taliban movement from power in late 2001.
Desperate for better lives, protesters accused the Bush administration of breaking its promises to the Afghan people by not rebuilding their war-battered nation.
"They have lied to us," said Sediq Afghan, a philosopher who organized the protest. "At the beginning we thought that the United States was one of the good countries, the most wealthy country, and it would help us. Then we saw that they came here to capture Afghanistan. I think the U.S. intends to keep us hungry."
Protesters lamented that the U.S.-backed administration of President Hamid Karzai is so weak that it can't meet its payroll, and thousands of government workers nationwide have gone without salaries for months.
Said Reshad, 19, said his father works at the Finance Ministry and hasn't received a paycheck in three months. His family of nine has begun selling household belongings.
"We sold the carpets and the refrigerator," Reshad said. "Now we'll borrow money to live. Finally, we'll have to start stealing something to eat. We'll join the Taliban just to support our family. If they give us money, we'll join them."
The protest appeared to reflect a new level of anger at the pace of change in a country where major roads remain unpaved and are frequently impassable, gunmen still terrorize the population, unemployment is rampant, and even people who find work cannot support their families.
The protest, which began with about 300 people gathered in front of some government offices in central Kabul, swelled and spread as people took up banners and marched through the streets shouting, "Death to America" and "God is Great."
"Of course, the people see that nothing has been done," Deputy Interior Minister Hilaluddin Hilal said in an interview in his office. "This is a problem for the government of Afghanistan. If the U.S. would help rebuild Afghanistan, then the organizers wouldn't have so many people joining them."
The Karzai administration, for example, needs more help from international donors in meeting its monthly payroll, Hilal said. In the Interior Ministry alone, 96,000 workers, most of them policemen and border patrol officers, haven't been paid in two months, he said.
In the past, Afghans typically have said they welcomed the presence of U.S. troops as a way to provide some semblance of security in a country that has known virtually nothing but war for more than two decades. But many who participated in the protest said that if the United States isn't going to help improve their lives, then it should withdraw its troops.
"The U.S. captured Afghanistan and did nothing for the people," said Ahmad Jawid, 25, who is unemployed. "Afghans are hard workers. If the foreigners stop interfering with the country, we can rebuild our country ourselves."
Some protesters reserved their greatest ire not for the United States but for Afghan Americans who went into exile during Afghanistan's violent phases of Communist, factional and Taliban rule and returned to work in the Karzai administration.
Many Afghans complain bitterly that anyone who has worked in the United States, even at a relatively unskilled job, can find employment in Afghanistan's fledgling government. Afghans commonly refer derisively to the returnees as "dog washers" or "cat washers," and one of the crowd's most boisterous chants today was "Death to cat washers!"
"They have given nothing to the people," said Abdul Hadi, 20, a law student at the University of Kabul. "Of all the international money that has come to Afghanistan, maybe 15 percent is going to help the people. The dog washers and cat washers who came from America are running things now, and nothing is working."
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
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