GUEST says in response to my post: "...to suggest that the Afghans 'should have realized' that the traditional practice of shooting guns in the air would be mistaken for anti-aircraft fire..."

No, I didn't suggest that they "should have realized" that; I suggested that shooting guns in the air when an opposition force that has the capacity to drop bombs on you is in your country is not a very wise thing to do.

Please note, in the ABCNews article I linked, that it says, "Pentagon and U.S. military Central Command officials told ABCNEWS that U.S. military forces on the ground in the Uruzgan province in southern Afghanistan came under anti-aircraft fire while on a reconnaissance patrol mission Sunday night local time. Troops then called in close air support, according to U.S. officials, and coalition aircraft opened fire on a target in a village about 100 miles north of the southern Afghan city of Kandahar. U.S. officials acknowledged that at least one bomb went astray during the attack on the target."

My guess is that the troops on the ground were able to tell the difference between shooting party-goers and anti-aircraft fire. I also guess that the partying villagers were aware that IN THEIR VILLAGE there were people using anti-aircraft artillery. And yet they popped off their party guns, at night, when those flashes MIGHT – not would, but might – be interpreted from the air as being part of the anti-aircraft attack GOING ON AT THE SAME TIME IN THE SAME VILLAGE.

It's foolish, to say the least, to take a chance on killing your fellow party-goer in any case. Besides, when did this shooting-off of guns become a "traditional" part of an Afghani wedding celebration? To me, it sounds less like tradition than like a bad habit.