Burkas Conceal More Than Flesh, Troops Find
U.S. forces conducting searches in eastern Afghanistan found grenades and automatic rifles hidden by women, including some weapons concealed under body-shrouding burkas, said Lt. Col. Carla Sylvester, a military spokeswoman.
The searches near the towns of Khowst and Deh Rawood turned up AK-47s, a grenade launcher, grenades, ammunition, computers, passports and propaganda related to Osama bin Laden, she said.
Many Afghans have complained that U.S. troops’ insistence on searching women is humiliating and unnecessary. Sylvester said that when Afghan women are searched, it is always by female soldiers or by Afghans.
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