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Deadly Protests for Koran Burning Reach Kandahar
By TAIMOOR SHAH and ROD NORDLAND April 2, 2011 The New York Times
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Violent protests over the burning of a Koran in Florida flared for a second straight day, with young men rampaging through the streets of this southern capital, flying Taliban flags and wielding sticks.
Afghan anger over Florida church’s Quran burning spreads to Kandahar in riots that kill 9
By Associated Press, Saturday, April 2, 11:28 AM
KABUL, Afghanistan — Anger over the burning of the Muslim holy book at a Florida church fueled a second day of deadly violence half a world away in Afghanistan, where demonstrators set cars and shops ablaze Saturday in a riot that killed nine protesters, officials said.
Insurgents killed attacking NATO camp in Kabul
Sat Apr 2, 2:21 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – Several insurgents were killed as they attacked a NATO camp in Kabul with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, slightly wounding three troops, NATO and police said.
Obama condemns attack on UN compound in Afghanistan
Fri Apr 1, 8:32 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama condemned Friday's brutal attack on a UN compound in northern Afghanistan in which at least 12 people, including seven UN employees, were killed.
Afghan police arrest suspected mastermind behind UN attack
Afghan police tonight arrested the suspected mastermind behind a ''brutal'' attack on a UN compound in the country which has killed around 20 people.
01 Apr 2011 The Telegraph (UK)
Some seven UN staff are thought to be among the dead following the violence at the compound in Mazar-e Sharif, in the north of the country.
Florida pastor is focus of Muslim outrage - again
Fri Apr 1, 2011 By Kevin Gray
MIAMI (Reuters) - An American Christian preacher who caused an international uproar last year by threatening to burn the Koran has put himself back in the spotlight after incinerating Islam's holy book -- again with deadly consequences.
Bush warns of fallout from early Afghanistan exit
By CNN's Alexander Mooney April 1st, 2011
Former President George W. Bush is worried the U.S. might pull out of Afghanistan too early to the detriment of that country's women.
Afghan government plans crackdown on revealing wedding dresses
Committees would ensure brides are modestly dressed and male and female guests do not mix under a new law
The Guardian Jon Boone Friday 1 April 2011
Kabul - There is an awful lot of flesh on display at Qasre Aros in central Kabul. Arms and shoulders are free to the elements, while necklines plunge daringly low on garish ballgowns made of every shade of synthetic material imaginable and encrusted with fake jewels.
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Deadly Protests for Koran Burning Reach Kandahar
By TAIMOOR SHAH and ROD NORDLAND April 2, 2011 The New York Times
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Violent protests over the burning of a Koran in Florida flared for a second straight day, with young men rampaging through the streets of this southern capital, flying Taliban flags and wielding sticks.
Nine people were killed and 81 injured in the disturbances, all from bullet wounds, according to Abdul Qayoum Pakhla, head of the provincial health department. One of the dead was a police officer. Kandahar has long been the heartland of the Taliban insurgency but has been relatively quiet in recent months since a surge of additional American troops arrived here.
The protests here came a day after a mob overran the headquarters of the United Nations in Mazar-i-Sharif Friday, killing 12 persons, seven of them international staff. The mob gathered after three mullahs at Friday Prayer urged action in response to the Koran burning by a pastor, Terry Jones, in Florida on March 20.
In Kandahar, several thousand young men, shouting slogans calling for death to Americans and to the Karzai government, were still rioting after several hours on Saturday, setting tires aflame throughout the city, burning cars and attacking journalists trying to cover the disorder. Shops and businesses were closed and most people stayed off the street. Many of the protesters were waving the white flag of the Taliban.
Police said that some of the protestors were armed, and Afghan authorities used live ammunition on occasion to quell the disturbances, which continued all day. Of the 16 arrested, seven were armed, officials said.
Zalmai Ayoubi, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the rioters attacked the Zarghona Ana High School for Girls, burning some classrooms and a school bus. The school is supported by the United States Agency for International Development. The Taliban have opposed girls’ education.
A spokesman for the American military in Kandahar, Lt. Col. Web Wright, said relatively small crowds were involved in the disturbances, with the biggest group of about 100 demonstrators gathered outside the governor’s offices. So far, no coalition military had been targeted. “If we need to get involved we will, but now we’re content to let the Afghan national security forces handle it,” he said.
Although Mazar-i-Sharif has little or no Taliban presence, Kandahar has significant numbers of residents who sympathize with the insurgents.
There were also demonstrations over the Koran burning on Friday and Saturday in Kabul, and on Friday in Herat, in eastern Afghanistan. Both were peaceful and lightly attended.
The latest demonstrations were sparked by sermons at Friday Prayer this week over the Koran burning. A week earlier, Friday Prayer had not provoked such reactions, even though the Koran burning had already taken place.
Both Afghan and international news media had initially played down or ignored the action of Mr. Jones, the Florida pastor. This Thursday, however, President Hamid Karzai made a speech and issued statements condemning the Koran burning and calling for the arrest of Mr. Jones for his actions. On Friday that theme was picked up in mosques throughout Afghanistan.
There is no provision in American law for arresting anyone for burning a Koran, or for that matter a Bible, which the courts would consider protected free speech.
“Karzai brought this issue back to life, and he has to take some responsibility for starting this up,” said a prominent Afghan businessman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of concern over retribution if he was publicly critical of the president.
“Karzai’s speech itself provoked people to take such actions,” said Qayum Baabak, a political analyst in Mazar-i-Sarif. “Karzai should have called on people to be patient rather than making people more angry.”
Officials in Mazar-i-Sharif blamed Taliban agitators from other provinces for stirring up violence in the Friday protests there. Zemarai Bashary, the spokesman for the Ministry of Interior in Kabul, said a high-level delegation had been sent to Mazar-i-Sharif to investigate the cause of the attack, including whether Taliban were involved and why police were not able to prevent the bloodshed inside the U.N. compound.
A spokesman for the Taliban, however, denied that the insurgents had any role in the disturbances in either Mazar or Kandahar. “This was the reaction of the people of Afghanistan,” said Zabiullah Mujahid.
Also on Saturday, a team of suicide bombers attempted to breach the front gate at an American military base in Kabul, Camp Phoenix, according to Mohammed Zahir, chief of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Kabul Police. Two of them were disguised as women, wearing full-length burqas, and two others were carrying small arms, he said. One of the burqa-clad bombers blew up at the gate of the camp, and the other managed to get about five yards inside the gate before also detonating. The other two attackers were shot and killed by guards before they could enter, he said.
None of the defenders were injured or killed, authorities said.
Enayat Najafizada contributed reporting from Mazar-i-Sharif.
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Afghan anger over Florida church’s Quran burning spreads to Kandahar in riots that kill 9
By Associated Press, Saturday, April 2, 11:28 AM
KABUL, Afghanistan — Anger over the burning of the Muslim holy book at a Florida church fueled a second day of deadly violence half a world away in Afghanistan, where demonstrators set cars and shops ablaze Saturday in a riot that killed nine protesters, officials said.
The church’s desecration of the Quran nearly two weeks ago has outraged millions of Muslims and others worldwide, fueling anti-American sentiment that is further straining ties between the Afghan government and the West.
The uproar even brought violence to the normally peaceful city of Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan on Friday, where a crowd of protesters — apparently infiltrated by insurgents — stormed a U.N. compound in an outpouring that left four Afghan protesters and seven foreign U.N. employees dead.
In an unrelated attack that nonetheless demonstrated the kind of violence plaguing Afghanistan nearly a decade after the U.S. invaded to oust the Taliban and hunt al-Qaida, two suicide attackers disguised as women in blue burqas blew themselves up and a third was gunned down at a NATO base on the outskirts of Kabul.
The Quran was burned March 20, but many Afghans only found out about it when Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the desecration four days later. The burning took place at the Dove Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, the same church where the Rev. Terry Jones had threatened to destroy a copy of the holy book last year but initially backed down.
On Saturday, hundreds of Afghans carrying long sticks and holding copies of the Quran over their heads marched through Kandahar, the largest city in southern Afghanistan and the cradle of the insurgency. The crackle of gunfire could be heard throughout the city, which was blanketed by thick black smoke.
Security forces shot in the air to disperse the crowd, said Zalmai Ayubi, a spokesman for the provincial governor. It’s unclear how the protesters were slain, he said.
The governor’s office in Kandahar province issued a statement saying that nine protesters were killed and 81 others were injured in the demonstration that turned into a riot. Seventeen people, including seven armed men, have been arrested, the statement said.
The governor’s office claims demonstrators were incited by extremists who joined the group and set property ablaze.
“Some wicked and destructive people placed themselves amongst the protesters and started rioting throughout the entire Kandahar city,” the governor’s office said. “The enemies of the people and country also burned down the furniture and a bus at a ladies’ high school in Kandahar and destroyed some other properties.
Shops and restaurants throughout the city were shuttered and routes leading into the city were blocked by security forces.
An Associated Press photographer estimated the crowd at a few thousand and said demonstrators had smashed his camera and roughed up other journalists.
The bloodshed began Friday in Kabul, Herat in western Afghanistan and Mazar-i-Sharif, where thousands flooded the streets.
The seven foreigners killed at the U.N. compound included four Nepalese guards. The other three were identified by officials in their home countries as: Joakim Dungel, a 33-year-old Swede; Lt. Col. Siri Skare, a 53-year-old female pilot from Norway; and Filaret Motco, a 43-year-old Romanian who worked in the political section of the U.N.
Dan McNorton, a spokesman for the U.N. in Kabul, said the organization had no plans to pull out of Afghanistan.
“The U.N. is absolutely committed to remaining in Afghanistan to ensure that the Afghan people receive all the support they deserve from the U.N.,” McNorton said.
Karzai’s office said the president spoke on the telephone Saturday morning with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Karzai asked the secretary-general to extend his condolences to the families of the slain U.N. workers.
He also called on the U.N. to help promote religious tolerance throughout the world to ease friction between people of different faiths. Karzai said Afghan officials were investigating the U.N. attack and would bring the perpetrators to justice.
In Florida, Wayne Sapp, a pastor at the church, called the events “tragic,” but said he did not regret the actions of his church.
“I in no way feel like our church is responsible for what happened,” Sapp said in a telephone interview on Friday.Afghan authorities suspect insurgents melded into the mob outside the U.N. compound and they announced the arrest of more than 20 people, including a militant they suspect was the ringleader of the assault. The suspect was an insurgent from Kapisa province, a hotbed of militancy about 250 miles (400 kilometers) southeast of the city, said Rawof Taj, deputy provincial police chief.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid sent a text message to The Associated Press on Saturday denying that the insurgency was responsible for killing the U.N. workers.
Demonstrators have alleged that the four protesters were killed by Afghan security forces. Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said Saturday that a delegation of high-ranking Afghan officials was being sent to the city to investigate what happened during the demonstration in which seven vehicles, including a police vehicle, were burned.
“When the demonstration started, the number of people increased every minute to around 5,000,” Bashary said. “The police did take action, but we are investigating how these casualties occurred. Were the steps and actions by police adequate or not?”
Bashary also gave reporters details of Saturday’s attack on NATO’s Camp Phoenix, a base on the east side of Kabul that’s used to train Afghan security forces.
He said three armed insurgents wearing suicide bomb vests arrived at a main gate at the base around 6:45 a.m. Two of the attackers opened fire and then detonated their vests of explosives, Bashary said. The third opened fire and was killed by NATO forces. The body of a fourth person, an Afghan man at the scene, has not been identified. Three NATO service members were injured.
The gate at the base was scorched from the explosions. An AP reporter at the scene saw the remains of at least one of the attackers dangling from the gate. Police officer Mohammad Shakir told the AP that two suicide bombers were clad in blue burqas, the all-encompassing coverings worn by many women in Afghanistan.
___
Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann in Kabul and Mirwais Khan in Kandahar contributed to this report.
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Insurgents killed attacking NATO camp in Kabul
Sat Apr 2, 2:21 am ET
KABUL (AFP) – Several insurgents were killed as they attacked a NATO camp in Kabul with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, slightly wounding three troops, NATO and police said.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Afghan police gave differing figures for the number of dead assailants, while the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.
"At 06:30 am on Saturday, we received information that Camp Phoenix was under attack by small arms and RPGs," said an ISAF spokesman.
"Early reports indicate that there were two attackers, one of which was a potential suicide bomber. Friendly forces returned fire and both were killed."
Three troops were slightly wounded, he added, without being able to specify whether they were foreign or Afghan.
Kabul police criminal investigation chief Mohammad Zahir confirmed the incident and said there had been four attackers, all of whom were killed.
"Two of them blew themselves up against Camp Phoenix, one was shot dead and the fourth one, who wanted to flee wearing a burqa, was also brought down by the security forces. He died from wounds. They exchanged fire with the security forces."
According to a senior intelligence source, one suicide bomber had escaped and remained at large.
"The area has been sealed off by the security forces and a hunt for the fleeing guy is under way," the source said, adding that there were four assailants and one civilian had been killed in the attack.
The area was cordoned off after the incident by scores of Afghan police and soldiers and foreign troops, an AFP correspondent at the scene saw. Pieces of human flesh were scattered across the ground, apparently the remains of a suicide bomber, the correspondent said.
A witness said that at least one suicide bomber had blown himself up, and that he had seen at least two Afghan civilians wounded during the attack.
"I was standing near my truck in front of the camp at around 6:30," Mohammed Gul, a driver, told AFP.
"I first heard shooting that continued for 10 minutes. I hid myself then I heard a blast, it was a suicide attack, then two other explosions. I saw at least two injured Afghan civilian men."
A spokesman for the Taliban, which has been fighting an insurgency against the Kabul government and its Western allies since being ousted from power in a US-led invasion in 2001, claimed responsibility, saying "lots of Americans" had been killed.
"Seven of our mujahedeen armed with rockets and machine guns have entered Camp Phoenix," said Zabihullah Mujahid.
"They have killed lots of Americans, the mujahedeen took control of the gate and the Americans are fighting from outside but mostly killing innocent civilians in the area. This is a war crime".
The Taliban routinely exaggerate coalition and government casualties from their attacks.
Around 140,000 foreign troops are serving in Afghanistan, most of them American, and responsibility for security is due to start being handed over to local forces in July, paving the way for soldiers to start being withdrawn.
Last year was the deadliest by far for international troops since the conflict began in 2001, and many of the Western countries that provide troops are under intense pressure to start bringing their soldiers home.
The attack followed the killing of seven foreign United Nations staff -- three Europeans and four Nepalese security guards -- in Mazar-i-Sharif Friday by protesters angered by a pastor in the United States burning a Koran.
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Obama condemns attack on UN compound in Afghanistan
Fri Apr 1, 8:32 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama condemned Friday's brutal attack on a UN compound in northern Afghanistan in which at least 12 people, including seven UN employees, were killed.
"I condemn in the strongest possible terms the attack on the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan today," Obama said in a statement.
Four Nepalese guards had fought desperately against an armed mob that stormed a UN compound in Mazar-i-Sharif, but were overwhelmed and died with three workers they were protecting The demonstrators were protesting the burning of a Koran last month by a US pastor.
"We stress the importance of calm and urge all parties to reject violence and resolve differences through dialogue," Obama said.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined Obama in condemning the attack, saying "there is no justification for this atrocity."
"The United Nations staff killed were in Afghanistan to help the Afghan people build a better future," she added.
"The United Nations has stood by the Afghan people for more than fifty years," Clinton continued. "They have saved countless lives and delivered essential food and supplies.
"They are a force for peace, progress and stability in Afghanistan and throughout the world," she added.
Clinton pledged the United States would continue to support the UN mission and work together "for a more peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan."
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Afghan police arrest suspected mastermind behind UN attack
Afghan police tonight arrested the suspected mastermind behind a ''brutal'' attack on a UN compound in the country which has killed around 20 people.
01 Apr 2011 The Telegraph (UK)
Some seven UN staff are thought to be among the dead following the violence at the compound in Mazar-e Sharif, in the north of the country.
The killings took place following a protest over the burning of the Koran in a US church.
Rawof Taj, deputy police chief in Balkh province, said the mastermind was one of more than 20 people arrested after the attack.
The Norwegian Defence Ministry named one of the victims as Lt. Col Siri Skare, a 53-year-old female pilot.
A Swede and four UN guards from Nepal were also killed. The nationality of the seventh victim has not been released.
Foreign Secretary William Hague said: ''This was a brutal act which I utterly condemn.
''The families and friends of those killed today have my deepest sympathies. The work of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan is of utmost importance.
''It is vital that they can carry out their work in a safe and secure environment.
''I call upon the Afghan government to investigate this incident and bring the perpetrators to justice.''
It is not believed that any of the dead are British.
Violence erupted after protesters gathered outside the UN mission's compound to denounce the Koran burning.
The march turned violent when protesters grabbed weapons from the UN guards and opened fire on the police, then stormed the building.
The protesters were condemning a reported burning of the Koran at the Rev Terry Jones' church, Dove Outreach Centre, in Gainesville, Florida.
Earlier this year Pastor Jones was barred from visiting the United Kingdom.
The preacher sparked outrage when he announced plans by his Florida-based church to burn copies of the Koran to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America.
Outlining the reasons for his exclusion, the Home Office said: ''The Government opposes extremism in all its forms which is why we have excluded Pastor Terry Jones from the UK.''
Pastor Jones told the BBC that he was ''absolutely not responsible'' for today's atrocities.
Instead he launched another attack on Islam saying: ''We must take a serious, serious look at Islam.
''It's a violent religion that promotes acts of violence, I believe we need to bring this before the UN.''
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Florida pastor is focus of Muslim outrage - again
Fri Apr 1, 2011 By Kevin Gray
MIAMI (Reuters) - An American Christian preacher who caused an international uproar last year by threatening to burn the Koran has put himself back in the spotlight after incinerating Islam's holy book -- again with deadly consequences.
Thousands of protesters in northern Afghanistan, enraged over news that the Florida pastor Terry Jones had overseen a torching of the Koran, stormed a United Nations compound on Friday, killing at least seven U.N. staff.
Jones, a 58-year-old fundamentalist pastor and the head of a small fringe church in Gainesville, Florida, drew worldwide condemnation in September over his plans to burn the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Several people were killed in protests then in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the Muslim world.
Jones eventually canceled that event under intense pressure from the U.S. government, the Pope, and other global leaders.
But he has remained an outspoken critic of Islam, and says parts of the Koran can lead to violence and terrorism.
On March 20, he presided over what he called an "International Judge the Koran Day" in which he supervised the burning of the book in front of some 50 people.
Video posted on the website of his Dove World Outreach Center church showed a kerosene-soaked book going up in bright flames in a metal fire pit similar to those often found in backyards and patios, but located inside the church.
"We believe parts of the Koran, if taken literally, do lead to violence and terrorist activities, do promote racism or prejudice against minorities, against Christians, against women," he said shortly after the Koran burning.
"The terrorist jihad people use the Koran," he said.
Some Muslim leaders, including Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, have denounced the burning and video.
Gainesville Mayor Craig Lowe condemned the Koran burning and the Afghan violence it had caused.
"It's important that the world and nation know that this particular individual and these actions are not representative of our community," Lowe said in a statement, quoted by the Gainesville Sun newspaper.
FEW FOLLOWERS
Jones is a former hotel manager whose non-denominational church only has a few dozen members.
The church website offers for sale a book written by the pastor entitled "Islam is of the Devil", and also T-shirts, baseball caps and mugs emblazoned with the same sentence.
"Our United States government and our President must take a close, realistic look at the radical element Islam. Islam is not a religion of peace. It is time that we call these people to accountability," he said on Friday in a statement reacting to the events in Afghanistan.
But he told the BBC he in no way felt responsible for the killings of the U.N. employees there.
Those who know Jones say he demands strict obedience and unpaid labor from his tiny flock and sells used furniture out of his Gainesville sanctuary.
He was once ejected from a church in Germany by his own followers. His daughter said last year she believed he had lost his mind in his fanatical crusade against Islam.
Over the years, Jones has demonized homosexuals and increasingly targeted Islam, preaching that Muslims were trying to take over the United States and impose Sharia law.
Children in his Florida congregation were sent to school wearing T-shirts that proclaimed "Islam is of the Devil," until school officials banned the shirts.
Jones has said he is planning an April 22 protest outside an Islamic center in Dearborn, Michigan, home to a large Muslim population.
"Dearborn is sort of the Mecca of America," he said.
(Additional reporting by Jane Sutton; Editing by Pascal Fletcher)
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Bush warns of fallout from early Afghanistan exit
By CNN's Alexander Mooney April 1st, 2011
Former President George W. Bush is worried the U.S. might pull out of Afghanistan too early to the detriment of that country's women.
In an interview with Fox News that aired Thursday, Bush warned that Afghan women will "suffer" should the Obama administration decide to downscale troop levels there.
"My concern of course is that the United States gets weary of being in Afghanistan and says 'It's not worth it, let's leave' and Laura and I believe that if that were to happen, women would suffer again," he told Fox's Greta Van Susteren. "And we don't believe that's in the interest of the United States or the world to create a safe haven for terrorists and stand by and watch women's rights be abused."
"We liberated Afghanistan from the Taliban because of providing a save haven for al Qaeda," he continued. "But I ablative then and believe now we have an obligation to help this young Democracy to survive and thrive."
Bush's comments came the same day he and former first lady Laura Bush kicked off a two-day conference at Southern Methodist University focusing on women's rights issues in Afghanistan – an issue Mrs. Bush also championed when she was in the White House.
"Isolationism will end up subjecting certain people to horrors that I don't see how our country can live with that kind of decision," the former president also said.
The Obama administration has said that it will gradually hand off responsibilities to Afghanistan security forces as it draws down U.S. troops between this summer and the end of 2014.
But a Government Accountability Office report issued in January questioned whether the centerpiece of the Obama administration's exit strategy for Afghanistan - a training program for Afghan security forces - can deliver as promised.
A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll in February indicated six in ten Americans are opposed to the war.
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Afghan government plans crackdown on revealing wedding dresses
Committees would ensure brides are modestly dressed and male and female guests do not mix under a new law
The Guardian Jon Boone Friday 1 April 2011
Kabul - There is an awful lot of flesh on display at Qasre Aros in central Kabul. Arms and shoulders are free to the elements, while necklines plunge daringly low on garish ballgowns made of every shade of synthetic material imaginable and encrusted with fake jewels.
Though the skin may be the orangey plastic of the dozens of mannequins lining the walls, the dresses are worn every night by real Afghan brides.
But the days when brides-to-be would flock to the shops of central Kabul's Shar-e-Now Park may be numbered. Conservative elements of Hamid Karzai's government are pushing for far-reaching restrictions on weddings the likes of which have not been seen since the Taliban regime.
Under a new law proposed by the country's justice ministry and soon to be considered by Karzai's cabinet, "garments contrary to Islamic sharia" will be banned. Those dealing in "outfits that are semi-naked, naked, transparent, or tight in a way that reveals part of the woman's body" will be fined and, if they persist, closed down.
When plans to regulate Afghanistan's booming wedding industry were announced earlier in the year, the government said it merely wanted to curb the country's mania for lavish weddings that drag people into serious debt.
But according to drafts of the law seen by the Guardian, the government is also aiming to introduce various public morality provisions in yet another sign of the casual erosion of the small freedoms women have won since 2001.
And in an echo of the Taliban regime, which used to police weddings to ensure they complied with hardline rulings including a ban on music, the government also intends to set up "committees" to monitor weddings.
The groups, which will include representatives of the religious affairs ministry, will be expected to patrol private ceremonies held in the garish, multistorey wedding halls on the edge of Kabul that light up the night sky with their elaborate neon facades.
Among their duties will be ensuring male and female guests do not mix in the same rooms – already a standard practice in most Afghan weddings – and that the bride is modestly attired.
Muhiuddin Alizada, the owner of Qasre Aros, looked bewildered when he was shown a copy of the draft law for the first time this week.
"This is pointless because the mullahs will not be happy unless the women are wearing burqas," he said. "It is all because of pressure from the Taliban."
Human rights activists are similarly aghast. "A number of experts who have looked at the draft law are of the view that it interferes with private family life and could well be inconsistent with sharia principles and the constitution," said Georgette Gagnon, the UN director of human rights in Afghanistan.
Other shopkeepers were more understanding, even though none of them had a single item of stock that was "sharia compliant".
"We are Muslims and women should dress modestly," said Muhammad Shah, a young entrepreneur whose shop is packed full of brightly coloured dresses that look all the more lurid under the pink fluorescent bulbs of the shop.
But moments later he concluded that there was no way such a law could be enforced.
"Even during the Taliban regimes people were still wearing these types of dresses," said Shah. "Gambling is haram but the government can't even stop that."
Sadia, a 26-year-old who got married on Thursday, was outraged by the idea that the government might try to stop her wearing the white, bare-shouldered glittery creation she chose for her wedding.
"When I'm wearing this dress I feel very beautiful. Why shouldn't I wear it?" she told the Guardian during a four-hour session in a beauty parlour on the morning of her wedding.
"If I don't wear it people will think I have a very bad husband who says I cannot wear these things. This is a day I will remember all my life and every girl is hoping to wear these clothes."
Under the proposed law, not only would she have to be more frumpily attired, she would also have to go for something far cheaper. The government wants to impose a maximum spend on wedding dresses of just over $100.
Alizada says his cheapest frock is $222, a dowdy thing that has been used more than four times. Most brides rent their dresses, paying anything between $200 and $400. If they buy they have to pay more than $1,000.
The law also bans large parties in wedding halls to celebrate the many other ceremonies associated with an Afghan wedding including henna night, engagement, and a post-wedding event known as Takht Jami.
Wedding guests will be limited to 300 and selections of food will be regulated by local government officials to ensure no more than $5 is spent per person. The erosion of women's freedoms
Afghanistan's restriction on low-cut wedding dresses is the latest government initiative to alarm human rights activists.
Last year the supreme court instructed judges to jail women who run away from home, while another draft regulation sought to transfer the management of women's shelters from charities to the government.
Social conservatives have also been flexing their political muscles in ways rarely noted by local or international media.
Musa Khan, the governor of Ghazni province, once associated with the fundamentalist warlord Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, marked international women's day on 8 March. Unfortunately, he appeared to have missed the point of the event.
According to Alex Dietrich, the head of a US military female engagement team operating in Ghazni, in a morning of speeches, only two women were invited onstage to participate. Instead ranks of burqa-clad women watched a group of men dominate proceedings with speeches on the importance of practising marital obedience.
Khan told them they should not leave their homes without permission from their husbands. "At the end the men sat down for a feast, while the women waited outside in the cold for some of their leftovers," Dietrich said.
This week the deputy governor of Helmand was sacked by President Hamid Karzai after elders objected to a successful concert in the once warring provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, which was attended by 12,000 people. Their objection: some of the female singers performed without headscarves.
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