BAJAUR, Oct 3: Thousands of Afghans protested against the US in Asadabad, the capital of Afghanistan’s eastern province Kunar on Tuesday, reports reaching here said.

The demonstrators, including religious students, pro-Taliban people, Taliban government ministers, officials, tribesmen from Jalalabad and other areas, gathered the city square and marched through different roads chanting slogans against the US and Zionist forces.

The demonstration turned into a public meeting and the speakers delivered emotional speeches in favour of the Taliban and Osama bin Laden.

The reports said that the demonstrators set fire to the Pakistani and American flags and also raised slogans against the former king of Afghanistan, Zahir Shah, President Gen Pervez Musharraf, and the US President George W. Bush, besides burning their effigies.

The speakers included the Kunar province governor, Maulvi Abdur Rauf, provincial minister for forests Maulvi Shakirullah, deputy minister for finance Maulvi Jamaluddin, Afghan religious leaders and Ulema from the tribal areas of Pakistan.

They said that the dream of the American president to dislodge the Taliban government and install a government of its own choice would never materialize.

The Americans should bear in mind that the Afghan people are ready to sacrifice their lives for the sovereignty and integrity of their motherland, they added.

Eyewitnesses told Dawn that the recent statements of President Musharraf, that the fall of Taliban government was imminent, had created a lot of resentment among the people and the Taliban administrations of Kunar and Nangrahar provinces.