Village where Osama bin Laden plotted 'a terrible calamity'

[IndianaGreen]

Village where Osama bin Laden plotted 'a terrible calamity'

Declan Walsh in Jalalabad
Tuesday September 12, 2006
The Guardian

At 5.16pm local time yesterday, the moment the first plane hit the World Trade Centre, a pair of chirpy young boys skipped past Osama bin Laden's house in eastern Afghanistan, schoolbooks in hand. Predictably, nobody was home.

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Afghans commemorated the September 11 attacks with little sentimentality yesterday - after a quarter century of conflict, many consider it a luxury - but still expressed deep sympathy with the American victims. "A terrible calamity, such a waste of lives and business," said Jan Muhammad, a teacher in Jalalabad.

Passions were higher about the war's mixed aftermath. The US-led ousting of the Taliban in late 2001 brought new freedoms, western-style elections and several billion dollars in development aid. But this year it has also produced a surge in Taliban attacks and an unprecedented drugs boom.

There is also bitter disappointment with the pace of reconstruction. The Taliban were restrictive but at least there was 24-hour electricity, said Azim Khan, captain of the cricket team near Bin Laden's house. "Now we are lucky if we get a few hours once a week," he said.

Many Afghans are sceptical of western efforts to hunt Bin Laden. Several said he was being sheltered by the US. "Osama is their golden cow," said Mr Muhammad, the teacher. "Killing or capturing him will destroy their system of worldwide colonisation."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/september11/story/0,,1870263,00.html