The Afghani People Are "Pretty Understanding"

Let those disgusting words of Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty be your guide as you read this:

Afghan villagers shattered by attack

The peace of Hutala village has been shattered.

US military helicopters, take off and land, throwing up dust devils.

Villagers, sitting on their haunches, watch impassively.

They are huddled around a heap of hats and shoes, which have been ripped by shrapnel.

Marbles are scattered across the ground.

Nine children and one man died here on Saturday morning, when two US-military planes, targeting what a coalition spokesman described as a "known terrorist", opened fire with rockets and bullets.

Picking up a dusty hat, villager Sarwar Khan says: "This is all that remains of one of my boys".

His two sons and one of his nephews were killed.

Patches of dried blood, and the pitiful pile of hats and shoes, are the only evidence that remains of a bombing raid that went horribly wrong.

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This village nestled in jagged mountains, in a remote area of the Pashtun heartland, will never quite be the same again, but the pain this attack has caused is being felt across the country, particularly by other Pashtuns.

The majority ethnic group is already deeply disenchanted with the new political dispensation in Afghanistan, and the interim government's perceived closeness to the United States.

Events like this only serve to alienate the population yet further, driving, it could be argued, yet more young men into the hands of the militants.