YOUNG men with scarves wrapped tightly across their faces were rampaging through Kabul’s deserted streets last week, hunting down foreigners in hotels and aid offices in an explosion of hatred sparked by a traffic accident.

Shouting “Death to America” and clutching Kalashnikovs, they brandished the poster of an unlikely hero: Ahmed Shah Massoud, the assassinated anti-Taliban commander who in death has been transformed into the symbol of resistance to the US-backed government.

Massoud, scourge of the Soviet occupiers and spearhead of the war on the Taliban, was murdered on Osama Bin Laden’s orders by a bomb hidden in a television camera two days before the September 11 attacks on America in 2001.

The terror strikes provoked the American-led invasion of Afghanistan. With the help of Massoud’s forces, the Taliban were toppled, ushering in the democratic era. But now history has turned full circle. It is in Massoud’s name that today’s rioters are seeking to rid Afghanistan of “all foreign forces and non-Muslims”.

Military analysts describe last week’s unrest as the worst witnessed in the Afghan capital since the fall of the Taliban. Yesterday the government blamed police for the disorder and sacked Kabul’s police chief and 85 other commanders.

The riots erupted on Monday after a US military convoy crashed into a civilian traffic jam on the road leading north to the Shomali plain and Panjshir valley. In their panic the American troops opened fire, killing six and wounding 20.

As news of the incident spread, angry crowds descended on the Afghan capital from all sides. Residents peered out from behind metal grilles in terror. Then came the call all outsiders dread in Afghanistan these days: “Hotel hariji” — foreigners’ hotel.

One of the rioters was pointing directly at my hotel, the Park Residence. Within 30 seconds a mob of up to 50 young Afghans were attacking the entrance with clubs and stones. They shouted, “Down with America. Out with the foreigners. Long live Massoud.”

Hotel staff ushered me from room to room. As the mob drew closer, I was handed a burqa and told to climb over the fence and hide in a neighbouring house.

Just as the hotel grating was giving way, Afghan police appeared, firing warning shots from 400 yards up the road. Soon single Kalashnikov shots gave way to automatic rounds, scattering the mob.

Elsewhere in the city, foreigners were not so lucky. Embassies across Kabul were attacked and the compound of Care International, the American aid agency, was burnt to the ground. Scores died and at least 160 people were injured.

Paul Barker, country director of Care International, showed The Sunday Times around the ruins of his office. “We haven’t seen anything like this before,” he said.

“It’s hard to foresee what this could mean, but what’s for sure is that Afghans are frustrated. They have no money, no jobs and security is getting worse throughout the country. International aid isn’t getting through to them.”

Afghan and international leaders alike praise Massoud, dubbed the “Lion of Panjshir”, as a moderate Muslim leader whose vision combined military brilliance with pragmatic political compromise.

It was Massoud who united Afghanistan’s most powerful warlords against the Taliban.

A road near the American embassy bears his name and his portrait hangs everywhere from the airport to the windscreens of four-wheel-drive vehicles belonging to the US-trained Afghan special forces.

However, his political party, the Jamiat-i-Islami, a linchpin of President Hamid Karzai’s government in the early days, has been sidelined and leaders have been demoted. General Fahim, Massoud’s most important commander, lost his job as first vice-president and defence minister. Abdullah Abdullah was also sacked from his position as foreign minister.

At the same time Massoud’s home region has received little financial aid. “We haven’t seen any change since we fought for Kabul,” complained Ahmed Zahir, a 17-year-old Panjshiri visiting Kabul. “And who represents us now?”

Mullah e Dara, 18, who spent much of the past week playing football or protesting, dismissed the current crop of politicians as either “all corrupt or Bush’s puppets”.

“If the Americans are here to be friends they shouldn’t be killing our civilians,” he said. “If they are here as enemies, they should tell us and we’ll kick them out, just as our fathers kicked out the Russians.”

It seems that the ghost of the Lion of Panjshir is about to be summoned for a new battle.

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