By Sanjay Kumar
A large demonstration on Wednesday shows that Afghans are united in their anger against both insurgents, and their own government.
Kabul witnessed unprecedented protests on Wednesday, when thousands of demonstrators marched to the presidential palace protesting against the brutal killing of seven Hazaras in Zabul province.
Braving rain and cold, people angrily demonstrated for hours, demanding the resignation of President Ashraf Ghani’s government for its failure to protect ethnic minorities from insurgent groups. Though predominantly a Hazara crowd, many from other ethnic groups also joined the demonstration.
This makes it a rather unique protest, where ordinary Afghans are rising above ethnic and sectarian divides, expressing their collective anguish at the deteriorating security situation in the country.
In March this year, a similar nationalistic outpouring of emotion was witnessed when hundreds took to the streets protesting the killing of a young woman, Farkhunda, who had been burned to death in the heart of Kabul on the false charge of burning the Quran.
The killing of the seven Hazaras is also symptomatic of the rising profile of a relatively new actor in Afghanistan: the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). According to various news reports, the anger on Wednesday was related to the killing of seven people who were taken hostage last month by the group.
Read the full story at The Diplomat