RI stance stuns Afghan immigrant

RI stance stuns Afghan immigrant

MATARAM, West Nusa Tenggara: An Afghan immigrant accommodated over the last few months on Sumbawa island, identified only as Ahmad, said he was shocked to see the stance and spirit of certain Indonesians for their insistence to wage a holy war in Afghanistan.

"I myself ran away from that country, why are Indonesians eager to go there?" Ahmad asked as quoted by the head of Sumbawa police precinct Adj. Sr. Comr. Setiadi on Tuesday.

Setiadi said that Ahmad's remarks were made after observing reports from both television and print media.

Why Indonesians are so enthusiastic to support Afghanistan, while people there, including Ahmad, have been forced to leave the country as they cannot bear the brutality of the Taliban is also one of the questions he was pondering.

Ahmad wanted to remind those intending to go to Afghanistan to think twice before deciding their choice, Setiadi said.

Ahmad is an Afghan asylum-seeker currently being housed at a hotel in Sumbawa, and waiting for further processing by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to go to a Western country. -- Antara