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Afghans protest against "house to house" search by US

PLA Daily 2004-01-18

KABUL, Jan. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Residents in an area of the southern Afghan province of Kandahar have protested against what they called a "house to house" search operation being carried out by US forces in the region, Afghan sources said on Saturday.

"A 50-member delegation of elders and community leaders from the Arghandab District and surrounding areas met the Kandahar governor Friday and lodged the protest," a source in Kandahar told Xinhua through telephone.

According to the delegation, the US-led coalition forces have been carrying house to house search and even investigating the female members of families during their ongoing operations against suspected remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Searching woman body or her belongings is considered a humiliation to her family in Afghanistan and the country's conservative tradition does not permit any man to investigate a woman except her close family members, they said.

"It is an insult to Afghanistan's freedom-loving culture and we want an immediate halt to such a malpractice," the delegation said in a petition to governor Khalid Pashtun.

They delegates warned that local people would immigrate to other areas or be forced to react if US soldiers continue the behaviors during their searching operations.

It was reported that Pashtun, the governor, promised to take the matter with US military authorities and convince them to conduct any operations in coordination with local Afghan authorities.

Earlier this month, officials in neighboring Zabul Province also complained about US forces' persistent overlooking of provincial administration while carrying out their operations against Taliban guerrillas in the province.

Afghanistan's southern mountainous provinces including Kandahar, Zabul, Uruzgan and Helmand have been the scene of increasing guerrilla warfare and violent incidents by suspected Taliban fighters during the last several months.