Support for strategic deal sparks protest

JALALABAD (PAN.

The tribal gathering on the deal with the US concluded on Saturday with the release of a 76-article declaration, recommending the creation of American bases in the country for a decade.

Nearly 3,000 university students, chanting slogans against Afghan and US governments, blocked Kabul-Jalalabad highway in the Daronta area of Surkhrod district at around 9am.

A protester, Abdullah, told Pajhwok Afghan News they were dead-set against the agreement with US. All jirga participants were hand-picked by the government and did not represent the people of Afghanistan, he added.

They would release a resolution and  set alight an effigy of US President Barak Obama at the end of the protest, he concluded. Police were on high alert to keep the demonstration from turning violent.

myn/mud

Views: 2