Anger over Afghan Civilian Shooting

Anger is mounting in Afghanistan over the shooting dead of 16 innocent civilians by an American soldier. The attack was completely unprovoked, the soldier was not in a hostile situation and did not have any reason to commit the crimes, it was a barbaric attack and has damaged US-Afghan relations terribly. The US is still trying to recover from the leaked footage of American soldiers peeing on corpses and the (accidental) burning of copies of the Koran. It is sad when any human being dies, but this could have very bad implications for the West. I suspect that over the next few days there will be huge protests in Afghanistan and there will be people killed as a result of the murders, including Americans.

If America wants to try and redeem itself in the eyes of the Afghans they should hand him over the Afghans to be tried under their laws. If they decide not to hand him to the Afghans, they should give him the maximum sentence he can receive and make sure he never returns to the US army.

Yet the ramifications of the attack will be longer than the protests that will ensue over the next few days. This type of attack is great for Al Qaeda, many people who were on the borderline of joining/supporting them could be pushed into siding with Al Qaeda, more insurgents means more troops killed in Afghanistan and the higher chance of an attack on civilians back in the west.

I don’t know why this soldier did what he did, but it was insanely stupid if it was some “revenge attack” for crimes committed by an Afghan or Al Qaeda as it will simply result in more western deaths. People need to learn that the only way to fight hate, war and insurgency successfully is through kindness and investment. After many years of fighting in Northern Ireland, it was only when the government reached out the hand of friendship to the IRA and later invested in Northern Ireland did the Troubles end. The same can happen in Afghanistan too, the West must invest in peaceful areas to show that the West is not there to destroy but to re-build a once great nation.