Bush visit enrages east Asia

US President George W. Bush took an unprecedented and controversial tour of east Asia last week, provoking massive outpourings of rage and protest against his first voyages to India and Pakistan. On Mar. 1, Bush began his trip by startling reporters aboard Air Force One with the surprise announcement that they were secretly flying to Afghanistan for an intentionally brief, unannounced visit–his first time in the country since the US invasion. Bush said Afghanistan was on the road to success and praised the great progress made following the overthrow of the Taliban regime. The president's arrival, however, was kept secret because of a deteriorating security situation that has claimed 1,500 lives in the past year, including dozens of US soldiers. Bush's upbeat five-hour experience in Afghanistan came as the director of the US Defense Intelligence Agency told the Senate's Armed Forces Committee in Washington that a resurgent Taliban and their allies were now at their most powerful since the official end of the war five years ago. Lt. Gen. Michael Maples revealed that the number of suicide bombings had risen by 400 percent and the use of roadside bombs had doubled in the past 12 months. The numbers of attacks by the Taliban and their sympathizers had risen by 20 percent. The attacks have led to 165 schools and colleges across the country being either burned down or forced to close. Dozens of teachers have been killed. The Afghan authorities acknowledge that large areas of the country, particularly in the south and the east, are out of government control and are either under the influence of the Taliban or warlords involved in manufacturing a record-breaking era of opium production. The helicopter carrying George and Laura Bush from the air base at Bagram to the capital, Kabul, opened fire with its machine-gun at one point during their 15-minute journey. After arriving in Kabul, Bush sang the praises of progress, while a few miles away a drama was unfolding that underscored the many problems Afghanistan has to deal with. Government officials were in negotiations with 1,500 prisoners led by Taliban militants who had seized control of the country's main high security prison and threatened to behead a US prisoner. The four-day crisis eased by evening when soldiers appeared to have regained control of the facility after six people were killed and 40 were injured. After Bush made his assessment he immediately embarked on a three-day visit to India which drew the ire of tens of thousands people chanting "Death to Bush!" in large protests in several cities across the country. "Whether Hindu or Muslim, the people of India have gathered here to show our anger. We have only one message–killer Bush go home," one of the speakers, Hindu politician Raj Babbar, told a crowd. About 100,000 protesters gathered in the heart of Delhi with still thousands more demonstrating in Calcutta, Bangalore and Hyderabad. In nearby Kashmir's capital, Srinagar, angry men burned pictures of the US president and shouted anti-US slogans. Many had traveled overnight to reach Delhi. "Bush is a terrorist who has killed innocents in Iraq and Afghanistan. India should not make a friendship with him," said Muhammad Atiq, a vegetable seller from Uttar Pradesh state. On Mar. 2, an address by Bush which was originally supposed to take place in India's parliament had to be moved after members of India's coalition government threatened to heckle him. The next day, while Bush visited Hyderabad, police fought with rock-throwing demonstrators protesting his presence a few miles away. Much of the city had been shut down in a strike, black flags flew over the old city, and banners strung across streets insisted: "Bush go home." Meanwhile, further north in Lucknow, two people were killed when Muslim protesters tried to force Hindu shopkeepers to join a strike against Bush's visit. The following day Bush wrapped up his trip with a jaunt to Pakistan to demonstrate his firm commitment to advancing democracy and fighting terror with President Pervez Musharraf during a 24-hour visit marked by intense security and a crackdown on anti-US protest. But if there is a good time for a presidential arrival to showcase such a friendship, it seems not to be seven weeks after US forces fired missiles into a Pakistani village near the Afghan border. The attack, aimed at wiping out a top al-Qaida leader, instead killed up to 22 local residents, including children. Even before the missile attack, Pakistani opinion polls and analysts registered simmering anger at the United States for years over the deaths of Muslim civilians and abuse of Muslim prisoners at the hands of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Pakistanis shut down their country with a nationwide strike that left bazaars shuttered and streets empty in multiple cities. In Multan, strike leader Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman rallied 10,000 people and criticized Musharraf for inviting a US president he said had abused Muslims. In Rawalpindi, as in Chaman and Peshawar, crowds ranging from 100 to several thousand shouted "Killer of Afghans–George Bush! Killer of Iraq–George Bush," "Death to Bush" and other condemnation. "I believe democracy is Pakistan's future. We share a strong commitment to democracy," Bush said in Islamabad alongside Pakistan's president in more remarks colored with optimism. Meanwhile, the dark side of Pakistani democracy was evident outside the palace gates, where anti-US rallies had been banned and hundreds arrested, including cricket legend Imran Khan. The opposition politician was placed under house arrest as he left a dinner party the day before. Khan said his party had planned peaceful "pro-democracy" demonstrations against Musharraf–who seized power in a coup in 1999–and Bush's visit. "I wanted to protest against the double standards of Bush," Khan said by mobile phone from behind a line of police at his front gate. "This is a military dictatorship with a democratic facade... Bush professes his policy is to support freedom and democracy and here he is supporting a military dictator." Police detained 35 people who gathered at Rawalpindi's Committee Square. The police, who outnumbered protesters, beat several people with sticks before driving them away. Muhammad Ismail, 64, who witnessed the attack on his way to the shops, shook his head in dismay. "There is no democracy in this country. If there was, people would not be beaten like this," he said.