Afghans in UK slam US attacks

Published October 12, 2001

LONDON, Oct 11: The Afghan people in Britain have expressed their anger and disgust at the US-led attacks on their country and the indiscriminate bombing in which hundreds of innocent civilian lives have been lost in the last few days.

The secretary of the Society of Afghan Residents in the United Kingdom, Gen Syed Tabibi, said on Wednesday, “This is not the question of being in favour or against Taliban.

In Kabul there are one million people living and everyone resident in Britain has some one or the other related to each other. And this the reason why the Afghans living here are angry that their cities are being bombed and ruined.”

In the UK, there are about 40,000 Afghans residents, who started coming here from Afghanistan to flee the Russian invasion and later the atrocities committed by successive governments. Among them are people of all sects and ethnic groups.

“The Afghans are not involved in terrorism, the people involved are the Arabs in Afghanistan, then why the Afghans are being bombed and punished”, Syed Tabibi said.

The former chancellor of the Kabul University, Abdul Ahmed Javed, who is in exile in England, said, “Afghanistan has been suffering for the last 20 years. It is my country and we must get rid of organizations, which are responsible for the chaos in Afghanistan. Amongst them are Osama and the Taliban. But sadly it is the Afghan people who are the victims.”

The Afghan community also fears that because of what is happening in their country, the Afghans living in Britain could be the target of racist attacks. One Afghan taxi driver was killed in Twickenham by racists immediately after the attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon a month ago.

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