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People in Afghanistan's capital city on Thursday recalled their ordeal of fears during the US air bombings 17 months ago as US fighters and bombers began attacks on Iraq hours ago.
"The air attacks against Baghdad reminded me of the terrible days in Kabul," said a TV shop owner in Kabul's electronics street who named himself as Najeebullah.
He said that a bomb dropped by Americans exploded on the house of one of his brothers and killed all seven members of the family.
Hundreds of Afghan civilians were mistakenly killed by US air bombings during the first days of the US-led military campaign on Afghanistan in 2001, an Afghani official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
The US anti-terror campaign in Afghanistan ousted the then ruling Taliban, who was blamed for harboring Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, perpetrator of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001.
"These days I could fell what people in Iraq feel, because we had similar experiences when US forces were preparing to attack Afghanistan in October 2001," Najeebullah said.
"At that time, no one here knew where to go, every one was crazy like a mouse lost in its way, people living in the west went to east while those living in the east went to west, seeking safe places for their families."
He said he had kept his radio on after he heard the news that US had began its war on Iraq early in the morning.
"I am sure a majority of Afghans are against the war in Iraq and everyone would feel sympathy for hardships of the helpless Iraqi people," said Najeebullah.
He said there was a difference in attitude toward the war between the Afghan people and their government, which has openly expressed its support for the use of force against Iraq by the United States.
President Hamid Karzai's government on Wednesday said in a statement that a war on Iraq was "justified" since Saddam Hussein's regime didn't seem to have complied with all UN demands to disarm all weapons of mass destruction in due time.
Some people said that the Afghan people just released from over two decades of war and conflicts now pay more attention to their own lives than an international geopolitical crisis far from their country.
"Common people in Afghanistan could not express their opinions on such an issue, and they are even unaware of the war in Iraq because of lack of access to information," said Saleem Khan, a high school teacher who lost a 12-year-old son during the US bombings on Kabul in 2001.
However, there are fears that the US-led war on Iraq may inspire terrorist attacks here by remnants of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, who have been stepping up their activities against US troops hunting down fugitive terrorists in southern Afghanistan in recent months.
Security in Kabul streets remained the same level as before on Thursday morning while the international peace keeping troops have increased patrolling activities around the capital city to prevent possible terrorist attacks.
"We have increased our patrols, especially by foot and during the night, and will stay in Kabul for maintaining the security," a spokesman of the 29-nation International Security Assistance Forcesaid on Thursday.
Meanwhile, United Nations Special Envoy to Afghanistan Lakhdar Brahimi said UN offices asked their staff to stay home as a security precaution measure after the United States began its war on Iraq.
Brahimi warned at a press conference here that the US war against Iraq could affect Afghanistan in two ways.
The Iraq war "may increase feelings against the international community among the Afghan people, while the international community, especially donor nations starting with the United States, may have less resources for supporting Afghanistan" in its reconstruction, he said.
(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2003)
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