Protests in Afghanistan

Angry protests broke out and shock rippled through Afghanistan on February 21 when accounts surfaced that NATO personnel at Bagram Air Base had burned a number of Korans and were preparing to burn more. A NATO spokesman said the books were inadvertently sent for incineration after being gathered at a detention facility for suspected insurgents. The incident brought nearly a week of strong anti-American demonstrations in which 30 people, including American troops were killed and many others wounded. Despite President Obama's letter of apology to President Hamid Karzai, the violence escalated. Two American soldiers were shot dead inside the Interior Ministry building in Kabul on Feb. 25. On Feb. 27, two suicide attackers detonated a car bomb at the entrance to a NATO air base in eastern Afghanistan. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the bombing as revenge for the burning of the Korans. While the violence raged, Afghan civilians faced harsher than usual winter weather and cold temperatures in which more than 40 people, mostly children, have frozen to death.


Afghan demonstrators show copies of the Koran allegedly set alight by US soldiers, during a protest against Koran desecration at the gate of Bagram airbase, Feb. 21, 2012 at Bagram, north of Kabul. The copies of the burned Korans and Islamic religious texts were obtained by Afghan workers contracted to work inside Bagram air base, and presented to demonstrators gathered outside the military installation.(Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)


An Afghan demonstrator holds a copy of a half-burned Koran, allegedly set on fire by US soldiers, at the gate of Bagram airbase during a protest against Koran desecration. (Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images)


Afghan demonstrators shout anti-US slogans at the gate of Bagram airbase during a protest against Koran desecration, Feb. 21, 2012. Afghan protestors firing slingshots and petrol bombs besieged one of the largest US-run military bases in Afghanistan, furious over reports that NATO had set fire to copies of the Koran. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)


An Afghan man aims a slingshot toward US soldiers at the gate of Bagram airbase during a protest against Koran desecration, Feb. 21, 2012. Guards at Bagram airbase responded by firing rubber bullets from a watchtower as the crowd shouted "Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar" (God is greater). (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)


Afghan youth throw stones toward US soldiers standing at the gate of Bagram airbase, Feb. 21, 2012. Afghan protestors firing slingshots and petrol bombs besieged one of the largest US-run military bases in Afghanistan, furious over reports that NATO had set fire to copies of the Koran. (Massoud Hosssaini/AFP/Getty Images)


Afghan youths use slingshots against US soldiers standing at the gate of Bagram airbase, Feb. 21, 2012. (Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images)


An Afghan demonstrator holds a half-burnt copy of Islamic religious text, allegedly set on fire by US soldiers, at the gate of Bagram airbase, Feb. 21, 2012. (Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images)


A wounded Afghan boy stands at the gate of Bagram airbase, hurt during a protest against Koran desecration, Feb. 21, 2012. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)


Afghan protesters throw rocks towards a water canon near a U.S. military base in Kabul, Feb. 22, 2012. Several people were wounded when shots were fired as hundreds of angry Afghans gathered in a second day of violent clashes after copies of the Koran, Islam's holy book, were burned at NATO's main base in Afghanistan. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters)


Afghan policemen march toward protesters during a protest near a U.S. military base in Kabul, Feb. 22, 2012. Several people were wounded when shots were fired as hundreds of angry Afghans gathered in a second day of violent clashes. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters)


An Afghan policeman keeps watch during a protest near a US military base in Kabul, Feb. 22, 2012. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters)


An Afghan man who was wounded during an anti-US demonstration lies on a gurney bed at the hospital in Kabul, Feb. 22, 2012. Anti-American demonstrations erupted on the outskirts of Kabul for a second day over an incident that the U.S. said was inadvertent burning of Muslim holy books at a military base in Afghanistan. (Ahmad Jamshid/Associated Press)


Black smoke rises from tires which were burnt by protesters during an anti-US demonstration in Kabul, Feb. 22, 2012. (Ahmad Jamshid/Associated Press)


An Afghan policeman confiscates a US flag from protesters in Kabul, Feb. 23, 2012. The Taliban urged Afghans to target foreign military bases and kill Westerners in retaliation for burnings of the Koran as a third day of violent protests continued. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters)


Afghan policemen form a line outside the American military base during an anti-US demonstration in Mehterlam, Laghman province east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Feb. 23, 2012. Afghan police fired shots in the air to disperse hundreds of protesters who tried to break into the military base. (Rahmat Gul/Associated Press)


Afghans gathered outside an American military base during an anti-US demonstration in Mehterlam, Laghman province east of Kabul, Feb. 23, 2012. (Rahmat Gul/Associated Press)


Afghan men shout anti-US slogans during a demonstration in Jalalabad province, Feb. 24, 2012. Twelve people were killed in the bloodiest day yet in protests that have raged across Afghanistan over the desecration of copies of the Muslim holy book. (Parwiz/Reuters)


Afghan protesters move the body of a man during clashes in Kabul Feb. 24, 2012. Nine more people were killed in protests in Afghanistan over the burning of copies of the Koran at a NATO base, officials said. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters)


Afghans burn an effigy representing the US President Barack Obama during an anti-US protest in Ghani Khail, east of Kabul, Feb. 24,2012. (Rahmat Gul/Associated Press)


An anti-riot policeman looks for protesters during clashes in Kabul, Feb. 24, 2012. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters)


An Afghan boy, working at a bakery watches a protest outside his window in Kabul, Feb. 24, 2012. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters)


Afghan policemen run after protestors during an anti-US demonstration in Kabul, Afghanistan, Feb. 24, 2012. Thousands of Afghans staged new demonstrations over the burning of Korans at a U.S. military base in Afghanistan. (Musadeq Sadeq/Associated Press)


An Afghan policeman keeps watch during clashes with protesters in Kabul, Feb. 24, 2012. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters)


Afghan police try to restrain demonstrators during an anti-US protest in Baghlan province, north of Kabul, Feb. 24, 2012. (Jawed Basharat/Associated Press)


Afghan policemen clash with protesters as a helicopter flies over in Kabul, Feb. 24, 2012. Two protesters were shot dead in separate rallies in Kabul. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters)


An Afghan protester receives treatment at a hospital after he was wounded during clashes with the police in Herat province, Feb. 24, 2012. (Mohammad Shoib/Reuters)


An Afghan doctor inside a hospital in bloodstained clothes in Laghman province, Feb. 25, 2012. Four people were shot dead by Afghan security forces as protests over the burnings of the Muslim holy book at a NATO base erupted for a fifth day. (Parwiz/Reuters)


An Afghan medic carries a protestor wounded during an anti-U.S. demonstration in Mehterlam, Laghman province east of Kabul, Feb. 25, 2012. Protesters threw rocks at police, government buildings and a U.N. office in eastern Afghanistan on a fifth day of riots sparked by the burning of Korans at a U.S. base. (Rahmat Gul/Associated Press)


Afghan demonstrators shout anti US-slogans during a protest against Koran desecration in Kunduz, Feb. 25, 2012. Rock-throwing protesters attacked a UN compound and clashed with police in northern Afghanistan February 25, as a fifth day of protests over the burning of Korans. Thousands attacked the complex in Kunduz as violence flared across the city. The death toll rose to 27 from protests over the burning of Korans by troops from the US-led NATO force. (Gulrahim/AFP/Getty Images)


Wounded Afghan men receive treatment at a hospital after a suicide attack in the city of Jalalabad in Nangarhar province, Feb. 27, 2012. A suicide car bomber killed at least nine people and wounded eight others, targeting a NATO base at Jalalabad airport in eastern Afghanistan, police said. Taliban insurgents claimed the attack, saying it was in revenge for the burning of Korans at a US military base. (Noorullah Shirzada/AFP/Getty Images)


Afghan soldiers are on alert at the scene of a suicide attack at the gate of an airport in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province east of Kabul, Feb. 27, 2012. A suicide car bomber struck in an attack insurgents said was revenge for U.S. troops burning Korans. (Rahmat Gul/Associated Press)


A child stands with his father as they wait to receive blankets and winter jackets from Welthungerhilfe, a German NGO, during a snow fall at a camp for internally displaced Afghans in Kabul, Afghanistan, Feb, 20. 2012. More than 40 people, most of them children, have frozen to death in what has been Afghanistan's coldest winter in years, an Afghan health official said. (Musadeq Sadeq/Associated Press)


Afghan girls read verses of the holy Koran in a mosque in Kabul, Feb. 27, 2012. (Ahmad Jamshid/Associated Press)


An elderly Afghan man rides his bicycle as snow falls in Kabul, Feb. 20, 2012. Harsh winter weather has killed at least 40 children in Afghanistan in a month, two dozen of them in refugee camps in Kabul, and aid groups warn of more deaths as temperatures keep falling. Twenty-four children lost their lives in the camps on the outskirts of the capital which house thousands of Afghans fleeing war and Taliban intimidation in southern Afghanistan. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)


Snow flies up as a US Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter lands at a remote landing zone in Shahjoy district, Zabul province, Afghanistan, Feb. 8, 2012. (U.S. Navy/Reuters)


Afghan teenagers beg near a displaced people's camp in Kabul, Feb. 19, 2012. A harsh winter has killed almost 40 children in Afghanistan in the past month. Twenty-four children lost their lives in camps on the outskirts of the capital. (Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images)


An Afghan boy selling packed peas, waits for customers on a cold and snow covered street in Kabul, Afghanistan, Feb. 19, 2012. (Ahmad Nazar/Associated Press)


An Afghan man rides his bicycle during a snow storm in Kabul, Feb. 12, 2012. Afghans have suffered under particularly harsh weather conditions this winter. (Rahmat Gul/Associated Press)


Mohammad Jamal, 37, an Afghan vendor, warms his hands on fire, selling carrots and turnips as he waits for customers during a snow storm in Kabul, Feb. 12, 2012. (Rahmat Gul/Associated Press)


An Afghan street barber sits on a plank in the snow as he trims the mustache of a customer in Kabul, Feb. 9, 2012. The National Weather Center meteorologist Abdul Qadir Qadir said temperatures in Kabul dipped as low as -16 Celsius (3 Fahrenheit), with the lowest temperature previously on record at -17C (1F), recorded about 15 years ago. The coldest temperature on record for Kabul was -26C (-14.8 F) and was recorded 40 years ago, he said. (Musadeq Sadeq/Associated Press)


A wounded child receives treatment at a hospital in Nangarhar Province, Feb. 12, 2012. Unknown gunmen shot dead a judge and injured six of his family members in the eastern province of Nangarhar. (Parwiz/Reuters)


An Afghan child carries a brick at a factory on the outskirts of the city in Herat, west of Kabul, Feb. 11, 2012. Thousands of Afghan children work to make money to support their families. (Hoshang Hashimi/Associated Press)


An Afghan man chooses fire wood to buy in Kabul, Feb. 9, 2012. The cold, combined with about 50 centimeters (19.6 inches) of snow, caused power blackouts and iced over most of the capital's roads. The bad weather also caused a sharp increase in demand for wood, the main fuel used by the city's five million or more residents to heat their homes. (Musadeq Sadeq/Associated Press)


Afghans warm their hands over a fire in Kabul, Feb. 9, 2012. (Musadeq Sadeq/Associated Press)


An internally displaced Afghan girl from Helmand province holds her brother as she and another girl stand outside a mud shelter for the displaced at the Charhi Qambar refugee camp on the outskirts of Kabul, Feb. 6, 2012. Fleeing NATO bombardment and Taliban intimidation, thousands of Afghans in refugee camps in Kabul have faced a new enemy: an unusually bitter winter that is killing their children. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)


Many internally displaced refugees lack proper clothing and shelter. An Afghan girl wears these shoes during the winter outside a mud shelter at the Charhi Qambar refugee camp on the outskirts of Kabul, Feb. 6, 2012. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)


Internally displaced Afghans from Helmand province inside a mud shelter for the displaced at the Charhi Qambar refugee camp on the outskirts of Kabul, Feb. 6, 2012. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)


An Afghan boy sells cigarettes on a snow covered street in front of the war torn Darul Aman Palace in Kabul, Feb. 5, 2012. (Mohammad Ismail/Reuters)

Afghanistan November 2011

As the War in Afghanistan passes the 10-year mark, the effect of the American withdrawal is already being felt among civilian aid workers, raising anxieties that Afghanistan will be abandoned and that gains will be quickly reversed. Even President Hamid Karzai asked nations at a conference in Germany recently to continue aid to his country for another decade. The United States, which provides two-thirds of all development assistance in Afghanistan, slashed its $4 billion aid budget to $2 billion in the 2011 fiscal year. The budget for 2012 may be cut further. In this post we continue our monthly visit to the country of Afghanistan, its residents and our troops.


01. An Afghan woman, holding her baby, walks through a busy street in Kabul, Dec. 5, 2011. A major international conference on December 5 sought ways forward for Afghanistan after the withdrawal of NATO combat troops in 2014. The boycott of two crucial players,Pakistan and the Taliban, dampened hopes of success. The one-day gathering brought around 100 national delegations and aid organizations to the former German capital Bonn. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)


02. Afghan pedestrians walk through a busy street in Kabul, Dec. 5, 2011. Afghanis' future post withdrawal of NATO combat troops in 2014 is at issue. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)


03. Bibi Sahiba prepares fire wood for her stove in Kabul, Dec. 2, 2011. Kabul's residents had called on delegates to the International talks on Afghanistan in Bonn to put their needs on the agenda, saying the government is not doing enough to alleviate poverty and hunger in the Afghan capital. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters)


04. Afghan children run holding jerrycans to collect water or fuel, in Kabul, Nov. 30, 2011. Despite massive injections of foreign aid since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Afghanistan remains desperately poor. (Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images)


05. An Afghan Koochi (nomad) boy at a mud hut in the outskirts of Mazar-i Sharif, capital of Balkh province, Dec. 4, 2011. (Qais Usyan/AFP/Getty Images)


06. An Afghan street barber shaves the head of a customer in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, Dec. 1, 2011. (Qais Usyan/AFP/Getty Images)


07. Afghan doctor Nafisa, examines a newborn in an incubator at the Malalai Maternity Hospital in Kabul. Afghans are living longer, fewer infants are dying and more women are surviving childbirth because health care has dramatically improved around the country in the past decade, according to a national survey. (Musadeq Sadeq/Associated Press)


08. Afghan doctors register newborns babies at the Malalai Maternity Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, Nov. 29, 2011. (Musadeq Sadeq/Associated Press)


09. Afghan newborns at the Malalai Maternity Hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, Nov. 29, 2011. (Musadeq Sadeq/Associated Press)


10. Newborn twins rest in an incubator at the Malalai Maternity Hospital in Kabul, Nov. 29, 2011. (Musadeq Sadeq/Associated Press)


11. Afghan National Army soldiers chat as they take a break during a patrol in Pul-e Alam, a town in Logar province, eastern Afghanistan Nov. 28, 2011. (Umit Bektas/Reuters)


12. People watch a quail fighting competition in Kabul, Nov. 24, 2011. Quail fighting is a popular hobby and a gambling game in Afghanistan. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters)


13. Men check each other's quails before a quail fighting competition in Kabul, Nov. 24, 2011. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters)


14. A man holds his quails after a quail fighting competition. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters)


15. Drivers, some who carried fuel for NATO forces in Afghanistan, sleep on top of their trucks at a fuel terminal in Karachi Nov. 26, 2011. (Athar Hussain/Reuters)


16. An Afghan laborer works in a firewood yard at a market in Mazar-i Sharif, north of Afghanistan Nov. 28, 2011. Trying to recover from 30 years of conflict that destroyed institutions and infrastructure, Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries in the world. Polls show that at a local level, Afghans are less concerned about poor security than they are about jobs, electricity and roads. (Qais Usyan/AFP/Getty Images)


17. An Afghan Koochi (or nomad) checks meat hung to dry in the outskirts of Mazar-i Sharif, capital of Balkh province, Dec. 4, 2011. (Qais Usyan/AFP/Getty Images)


18. An Afghan woman begs next to Hazrat-e Ali shrine in Mazar-i Sharif on Nov. 26, 2011. Despite massive injections of foreign aid since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Afghanistan remains desperately poor with one of the lowest standards of living in the world. (Qais Usyan/AFP/Getty Images)


19. Men use a trolley to push their family members towards the Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing in Torkham, Nov. 28, 2011. (Khuram Parvez/Reuters)


20. Internally displaced Afghan refugee girls and boys look out from a window of a home in Kabul, Afghanistan, Nov, 28, 2011. (Ahmad Jamshid/Associated Press)


21. A German soldier with the NATO- led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) stands guard at the scene where a German military armored vehicle was hit by road side bomb in Baghlan north of Kabul, Nov. 29, 2011. Two German soldiers were wounded after their vehicle was hit. (Javid Basharat/Associated Press)


22. Soldiers of the German ISAF force guard the entrance of the combat outpost, Unicorn, near the city of Baglan, Dec. 4, 2011. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)


23. A Dingo armoured vehicle of the German ISAF force approaches a signpost at the entrance of combat outpost Unicorn near the city of Baglan, Dec. 4, 2011. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)


24. A U.S. Army soldier exchanges a high five with an Afghan boy during a patrol in Pul-e Alam, a town in Logar province, eastern Afghanistan, Nov. 28, 2011. (Umit Bektas/Reuters)


25. A man walks past an armed paramilitary soldier guarding the Pakistan-Afghanistan border crossing in Chaman, Nov. 28, 2011. (Naseer Ahmed/Reuters)


26. U.S. Army soldiers sit behind a wall, as others search for explosives, after an IED blast damaged one of their armored vehicles during road clearance patrol in Logar province, Nov. 23, 2011. (Umit Bektas/Reuters)


27. U.S. Sergeant Taylor Hollingsworth rests during a patrol as part of their overall security and disruption insurgency mission in Wardak province, eastern Afghanistan, Nov. 17, 2011. (Umit Bektas/Reuters)


28. An Afghan policeman keeps watch at a vehicle checkpoint on the first day of the Loya Jirga, or the traditional assembly, in Kabul, November 16, 2011. About 2,000 Afghan community and political leaders gathered in Kabul under tight security for four days of deliberations on the country's most pressing issues, including ties with main ally, the United States. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters)


29. An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier stands guard in front of street beggars near Pol-e-Khumri, Baghlan province, northern Afghanistan, Nov. 15, 2011. The province's only ANA battalion operates with the assistance of the Ohio National Guard and the Hungarian Army. (Bela Szandelszky/Associated Press)


30. An Afghan boy works at a small confectionery factory in Kabul, Nov. 20, 2011. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters)


31. An Afghan boy carries a pan of sweets at a small confectionery factory in Kabul, Nov. 20, 2011. (Omar Sobhani/Reuters)


32. An Afghan women and a young girl beg on a street in Mazar-i Sharif, Nov. 13, 2011. Despite massive injections of foreign aid since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Afghanistan remains desperately poor. (Qais Usyan/AFP/Getty Images)


33. An Afghan musician plays a traditional stringed instrument southwest of Kabul, Nov. 12, 2011. (Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images)


34. Afghan laborers work at a brick factory southwest of Kabul, Nov. 12, 2011. (Massoud Hossaini/AFP/Getty Images)


35. A boy waits for cotton candy on the second day of Eid al-Adha festival in Kabul, Nov. 7, 2011. (Umit Bektas/Reuters)


36. Afghan children enjoy a swing ride set up in a cemetery on the second day of the Eid al-Adha in Kabul, Nov. 7, 2011. The Eid al-Adha is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to commemorate the willingness of the Prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press)


37. An Afghan man feeds pigeons outside Shah-e-Dushamshera mosque on the first day of Eid-al-Adha prayers, in Kabul, Nov. 6, 2011. (Muhammed Muheisen/Associated Press)