Kabul Stories: It was an idyllic, peaceful night - then, boom!

[NNN0LHI]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/story.jsp?story=443105

14 September 2003

The scene could not have been more idyllic. A full moon shone from a clear sky. Dim lights flickered from the cluster of houses along the mountains which rise up like teeth protecting Kabul's edge. The Afghan capital was asleep, silent and at peace.

I was at my dingy and over-priced guesthouse, using a head-torch to read a book because the bulb hanging from the ceiling shed about the same amount of light as a candle.

Then - boom.

The sound was loud and unmistakable. This city has been half-wrecked by bombs and missiles in the last two decades; residents will have been in no doubt this was the din of conflict.

It was a rocket fired at a base housing German and Canadian soldiers from the Nato-led international force, assigned to keep the peace; no one was hurt by this attack, or by the two other rockets that landed well short of bases on the same night - Thursday.

more

[mmm]

1. Radical right wing: bad for the US; bad for Israel

"On the other, it means that one of the most right-wing governments in the history of the Israeli state has given itself the authority to act against Mr Arafat if it judges that the circumstances demand it."

[saigon68]

2. What the Hell is Mr. Kharzai, the Mayor of Kabul doing about the violence?

LOL