US offensive displaces thousands of civilians in Afghanistan

Ahmad Shah, a 43-year-old peasant farmer, told the IRIN newsagency on the weekend: Now my family and I live almost 10 kilometres from Lashkargah city. I have made a shelter from blanket pieces to live under, in an open area. I left my home with four children and my wife three weeks ago because of fighting. Now I need a tent, I need food. My children may die under the hot burning sun of Lashkargah.

A representative of the Afghanistan Red Crescent Society, Asadullah Mayar, told IRIN: I met families in the outskirts of Lashkargah city who had not had food in days, lying under the trees and in the sun in that hot weather in Helmand.

Mahboob Garmsiri, a member of the Afghan parliament from Helmand, told a press conference in Kabul that US troops were smashing into houses and arbitrarily detaining people. He also alleged that civilians had been killed and wounded by American air strikes and bombardments.

The Frontier Post reported the claims of another Helmand politician, Muhmamand Anwar, who asserted that the number of families displaced was at least 10,000. Muhammad Akhunzada, the head of the Afghan parliamentary committee for internal security, told journalists that the harsh treatment of civilians by US troops was causing further alienation of the population and had already led more areas to fall into the hands of the Taliban.

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