Abstract
In the afternoon of 6 February 2006, a warning came that some people were going to demonstrate outside the ‘occupied’ Old Bank in the city of Meymaneh in Northern Afghanistan close to the border with Turkmenistan, where Norwegian soldiers were based. It was organised as a protest against the publication of the so-called ‘Muhammad cartoons’ in a Danish newspaper and in a Norwegian Christian weekly. Since demonstrations of this kind were not rare, the soldiers were neither afraid nor upset, regarding it as a rather routine task. The next morning, the anticipated controlled and moderate demonstration turned into a most violent one. In fact, Norwegian soldiers experienced a war-like situation, quite rare for soldiers mostly experienced in peacekeeping operations.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2009 Bård Mæland and Paul Otto Brunstad
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Mæland, B., Brunstad, P.O. (2009). Bored in Afghanistan?. In: Enduring Military Boredom. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230244719_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230244719_4
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-36747-4
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-24471-9
eBook Packages: Palgrave History CollectionHistory (R0)