About 200 people, mostly Islamic clerics and mullahs, demonstrated here Wednesday to protest the detention of "innocent people" by US-led forces in eastern Afghanistan, witnesses said. The men blocked a key road between the eastern town of Jalalabad and the Pakistani border, demanding the release of a cleric detained by US forces over the weekend.
"The Americans are arresting innocent people for no reason. They should free our men or we will declare 'jihad' or 'holy war' against them," said Nuristan Asil, a protester. Others shouted "Death to America, Americans should stop arresting our people," a witness told AFP by phone from Ghanikhail district in Nangarhar province, where the demonstrations took place.
Demonstrators said troops had picked up three clerics over the weekend. Two were released but the third was still being held, they said, insisting the men had no links to Taliban extremists. Nangarhar, one of several eastern provinces where mostly US soldiers operate in the fight against extremists, has seen a string of demonstrations against the foreign militaries fighting a growing Taliban-led insurgency.
Foreign troops are regularly accused of arresting the wrong people and killing civilians in their operations against militants. About 50 civilians were slain last month in an air strike in Nangarhar, Afghan officials have said. Afghan officials have warned that such errors could see a backlash against the international soldiers - who Afghanistan depend upon for security.
The US-led coalition, confirming the demonstration, said it only arrested people based on "strong evidence" that they were militants or assisting rebels. "We are involved in a conflict that involves not your typical opposition," spokesman Lieutenant Nathan Perry told AFP. "We are dealing with civilians on a regular basis, and whether they are combatants or non-combatants is what we have to figure out."