Kabul Riots

I've noted the Kabul riots at American Footprints, with this additional bit of commentary:

"There's a phenomenon I've heard called 'capital capture' where journalists tend to focus stories based on what happens in the capital or another important hub of the country on which they're reporting. This often leads to declarations that certain countries were secular and progressive, such as pre-Revolutionary Iran and pre-Taliban Afghanistan, when in reality that was mainly a phenomenon of the urban professional class in the cosmopolitan capitals. I think we're also seeing a security version of this in Afghanistan. I just got home from work, turned on CNN, and suddenly violence is everywhere and people are trying to explain what happened to Afghanistan's stability. What happening today, however, is not 'exceptionally violent' compared to what we've seen in recent weeks in other parts of the country."

You should also see this post from a few days ago.