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| Reasoned debate in Afghanistan... |
Surely this is a step (or a kowtow) too far? I mean, every man and his dog(*) has apologised including a US General on the ground in Afghanistan, who, quite awfully I thought, began and ended his craven apology to the "noble Afghan people", with some greetings in the local language (sounded Arabic to me, but assume it must have been Pashto or Dari -- in which case, I wonder how he chose which one to use; surely use of one would offend speakers of the other...)
For the US president now to apologise is surely to reward the rampaging hordes. The message being: show irrational violence in the face of any slight and you'll get what you want. Meantime, the majority of Afghans have not rioted and even president Kharzai has called for calm.
Surely the message from the coalition forces should be something along the following lines: "look, we've apologised for what was a mistake. Now it's time to stop with the violence, already!". But no, more apologies to the thugs and thuggocracy, from the US president, no less!
(*) woops sorry if I upset pious Muslims with the canine reference; I'm afraid it's just a saying.... l
