News - Afghanistan
TOLOnews received video clips from an anonymous source showing Parwan MP Abdul Sattar Khawasi calling on residents of Ghorband District to launch Jihad against the U.S.
Although the exact date of the video footage has yet to be confirmed, the clips clearly show Khawasi at a public gathering in Ghorband promoting Jihad against the U.S.
"Jihad is legitimate against the U.S., and silence against the U.S. is an act in violation of religion, I am obligated to tell you," Khawasi says in part of the video.
Reportedly, though it has yet to be verified, the video clips were taken after copies of the Holly Qur'an were burnt at Bagram Military Airbase by U.S. soldiers in early 2012, an incident that sparked protests around the country.
The footage also shows the MP, a member of the U.S.-backed government in Kabul since joining Parliament in 2004, accusing other government officials of being "collaborators" for working alongside the U.S.
"Now lets focus on the government officials, these corrupt miscreants have no right to fire on you, I promise revenge," Khawasi said.
The clips were sent to TOLOnews just as Khawasi began work as a member of the commission assigned to investigate the recent civilian casualties in Ghorband District that resulted from a clash between U.S. and Afghan forces and insurgents two weeks ago. Khawasi has strongly denounced the joint military operation, and argued that the civilians were targeted by the U.S.
Khawasi has also notably been a vocal opponent of the Kabul-Washington Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) and voted against the Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) Law when it was up for vote in the Lower House.
Parwan Governor Abdul Basir Salangi has also denounced the Ghorband civilian deaths, but defended the operation and said that to do otherwise would be a favor to the militants.
"We don't support civilian casualties, but in the operation dangerous insurgents were killed," Governor Salangi said. "Those who cried before the President in fact cried for the Taliban and they didn't cry for the people," he said of Khawasi and the other officials who denounced the operation.
Salangi was accompanied by a large number of lawmakers who were saddened by the civilian deaths, but agreed that the joint operation was largely a success.
However, President Hamid Karzai himself has come out publicly and criticized the U.S. for the operation, which lent him fodder for his demands that the U.S. promise to end all raids on Afghan homes before he signs a security pact dictating military relations between the two countries post-2014.
After the Taliban attack on a Lebanese restaurant in Kabul last week that left 21 people dead, including 13 foreign civilians, Karzai insinuated that the U.S. was responsible for the foreign deaths in Kabul because of the Afghan deaths in the Ghorband operation.
Meanwhile, a number of commentators have criticized the stance of Khawasi and others who have denounced the U.S. and its involvement in Afghanistan. If they are so committed to Jihad against the U.S., the argument goes, then they should not be a part of the U.S.-backed government and so comfortable with using financial assistance from the U.S.
"In principe, this is a crime against the national interests and security of the country, and against the security institutions of the country, so these kinds of people should be investigated," civil society advocate Ajmal Balochzada said of Khawasi and his fellow leaders who have denounced the Ghorband operation.
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