Afghanistan Holds Loya Jirga

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Insurgents fired two rockets Thursday toward a site where more than 2,000 Afghan elders are attending a national assembly to discuss the future of U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, officials said. Both rockets missed their target.

The Afghan Ministry of Interior said the two rockets were fired from an unknown location at about 8 a.m.

Kabul police criminal director Mohammad Zahir said one person was wounded.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai spoke Wednesday on the opening day of the assembly – called a loya jirga – where the elders are considering the terms of an agreement between Afghanistan and the United States. The agreement is to govern the presence of U.S. troops after 2014 when most international forces are to have left or moved into support roles.

One rocket landed on a hillside about one kilometer from the meeting site. The other landed farther away in an open area, shattering a few windows in buildings near where merchants were selling vegetables and fruits.

"Me and my four friends were drinking tea and suddenly we heard an explosion," said Mohammad Shafi, a 28-year-old taxi driver at the scene. "We didn't know if it was a bomb or a rocket."

Shafi said he helped a man whose left hand was bleeding find a ride to the hospital.

"Everybody knows that they are trying to hit the jirga, but instead innocent civilians were the victims," he said. "If the jirga weren't going on, there would have been no rockets. If the man loses his hand, who will feed his family?"

No one has claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks.

Comments

[Celebrindan]

08:12 PM on 11/17/2011

Either fight the war to win it, or get out.

Sending foot soldiers to patrol five thousand year old goat paths, on their home turf, is absurd.

In Afghanistan, it's about the high ground, hold it, and you might win.

[PublicCitizen21044]

10:12 AM on 11/17/2011

Who shot the missiles, a US drone? Why are we still is Afghanistan anyway? If America and Europe continue their slide down the slope of obscurity and hopelessness how can we continue these wars of aggression and imperialism for the worlds (peoples of color) natural resources? What is the end game?

[klincklanc]

04:55 AM on 11/17/2011

Our "values" for lack of a better term are so different from the Afghans. We should wash our hands of them as soon as possible. Cut that puppet Karzai's strings already!

[Galilee]

06:13 PM on 11/16/2011

Does the Loya Jirga involve dancing? it should.
It's a common mistake to choose the most flamboyant dresser as leader.
Here's the "lion" they should have protected:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmad_Shah_Massoud

[organized chaos]

05:37 PM on 11/16/2011

We are not going to win this war you can't fight a clan as long as the Pashtun's support the Tailban in Pakistan and in Afghanistan. Its doomed to fail. Maybe its time to look at the idea of pashuntinistan.

[tamarariver]

05:23 PM on 11/16/2011

It is time for Obama to stop escalating the war against Afghanistan and bring all the troops home.

[TRUTHHURTS500]

05:21 PM on 11/16/2011

The US think they can continue to install and keep their puppets in office. Karzi is playing the US because the US is giving him bribe money, oops, I meant aid money. The US is digging a deeper hole from our military. These country now have an alliance with not only the US but China too. The weaker the US get the more power China has. They can devalue the dollar at anytime. The US wants to blame China for unfair trade, they import, but does not let the US import a lot of our goods. You wanna know why. China is going to make sure their people have jobs and mostly anything they need can be made in China. They don't have to import our goods. The only reason China hasn't been invaded is because the US government know China doesn't play when it comes to their military and it is a very good chance they will kick our behinds. The people running our government, Israel and corporate america is destroying this country.

[halfpricefaustian]

05:05 PM on 11/16/2011

My impression is that Karzai is the single biggest impediment to peace in Afghanistan. I am aware of no information that indicates that Afghanistan wants democracy. Or infrastructure. Or technology. Karzai has always been the US's marionette, even though he has managed to subvert subsequent elections in his favor. Al Qaeda is no longer an issue in Afghanistan and hasn't been for a long time. We need to get out and let Karzai get back to milking goats for a living.

[not2 good]

04:29 PM on 11/16/2011

We have been there long enough. We trained several thousand security personel. Have those troops train their own. Let get out of that country. It is not as we won anything over there. We sacrificed American lifes. They don't like us and Osama is dead. Mission accomplished. There is nothing honorable in staying.

[halfpricefaustian]

05:08 PM on 11/16/2011

Makes one ask why 400k trained military/police cannot prevail over 10k taliban, doesn't it?

[harmonikasavingsbonds]

04:07 PM on 11/16/2011

So is our government already plotting his assassination?

[klincklanc]

04:56 AM on 11/17/2011

Hopefully not...his own people will take care of it once we cut the puppet's strings.

[Damon G]

03:42 PM on 11/16/2011

We like raiding peoples' homes. We do that to our own people, take their stuff, kill their dogs, it's the new gestapo way of life. No, I take that back, the newest gestapo way of life is using drones and not worrying about doing the raid at all.

[Jessen Joseph]

05:14 PM on 11/16/2011

Couldn't have said it better myself.

[sean beamer]

03:03 PM on 11/16/2011

Yet another installation of an american puppet in the ME ...I hope the afghan people will see through him and remove him...from office..by all means neccessary !!