The following is from:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/6736766/US-surge-greeted-with-fear-by-Afghans-travelling-on-the-road-to-Kandahar.htmlKarim, a lanky Pashtun from Ghazni - with only one name, like many Afghans - would rather not risk his life driving the highway for £75 a month, but he has little choice if he wants to feed his eight children.
"The situation gets worse day by day," he said, raising his eyes to heaven as he again prepared to climb into his coach and drive down the road. "My family don't like it, but what can I do? It's better than staying at home with no food."
The 42-year-old's coach had been held up by robbers who went through his passengers' pockets at gunpoint, and searched by Taliban patrols looking for government workers.
But he reserved his greatest anger for the American convoys that were supposed to be securing the road. The six-hour drive to Kandahar often took four times as long because his bus became stuck behind lumbering mine-proof lorries and was frequently pulled to the side of the road for searches.
Any attempt to overtake US troops or get too close was answered by a rock flung by a turret gunner at his windscreen, or by a shot ricocheting off the road.
"The main trouble is with the Americans," he said. "If they have come to help us they are most welcome, but if they are just here to hold us up and cause trouble, we are not happy."
He was enthusiastically supported by Ismatullah, another driver who pointed out a bullet hole in his windscreen covered by a sticker. "Unfortunately there is fighting between the Americans and the Taliban along the road," he said.
"The Americans don't care if you are a civilian or a driver, they just shoot. If an American gets hurt then they shoot everyone."
...
Four years after the Taliban resurgence began in earnest, the city is under virtual siege with Taliban controlling large areas beyond the city boundaries - and even large areas within it. Anti-Taliban mullahs and leaders are assassinated, crime is rampant, and kidnapping is a booming business.
"If you have any money they will kidnap you and if you work with the government they will kill you," said Rahim Khan, a 50-year-old businessman who had arrived in Kabul on a bus from Kandahar.
"Life is getting very bad there," he shrugged.
And yet, despite all this, he said he had no faith in Gen McChrystal's promise to protect the Afghan people from the Taliban.
"Kandaharis hate the foreigners now," he said. "If they send more troops it will only make the situation worse. Afghans will join together and turn on the foreigners.
"So many people are going to join the Taliban. The fighting is at the gates of the city and all through the countryside."
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