KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The little girl looked up at the helicopter buzzing over the refugee camp she's called home for the last six months.
She pointed at it and said: "I don't understand those birds. Did you bring them with you? What are they for? They scare me." After three days of bombings that left more than 100 people dead in Kandahar province, the little girl's query reflects a question Afghans ask often after major security incidents.
What are Canadian soldiers doing in their country if they can't keep them safe?
While it may be easy to blame Canadians, Afghans are growing increasingly disillusioned with their own government as well for the continuing instability in the province.
"The people who are responsible for insecurity and destruction in Kandahar province are the provincial authority of Kandahar," reads one article that circulated on an Afghan news website recently.
"They are the ones who are responsible for facing people of Kandahar with no choice but death and destruction."
Kandahar Gov. Asadullah Khalid suggested after Monday's bombing in Spin Boldak that the 38 civilian deaths there could have been avoided if Canadian troops heeded warnings to stay away, because suicide bombers were known to be present.
Yes, say some Afghans, but whose job is it to arrest the suicide attackers?
"It is the responsibility of our government to stop it," said Hafiz Afgha, 42.
"How come a man can come and can do explosion anywhere? Where is the Afghan National Army, where is the Afghan National Police? Where is the National Directorate for Security? It is disgusting."
Canadians expend a lot of resources in Afghanistan training local security forces, which is considered among the top priorities for the military. About 200 soldiers work side-by-side with the Afghan army and the Afghan police.
A series of police checkpoints are manned with Canadian and Afghan officers, and RCMP officers are involved in training the NDS.
But Afghans still don't trust their growing national security force.
"If the government catches a thief, he just gets released," said Haji Dawood, 30, "because the thief gives a bribe to government."
The Afghan police are often targets of insurgents. On Tuesday, for example, a car bomb near a police compound killed at least one civilian and wounded several others in Kandahar city.
But some of the blame for the high death toll from a deadlier bombing at a dog-fighting festival outside Kandahar city is also being laid at their feet. More than 100 people were killed Sunday after a suicide bomber apparently targeted a local police commander.
Though there is little firm evidence, some Afghans alleged that a number of the casualties were caused by police firing into the crowd out of panic and confusion.
"As a matter of fact our government is fully failed," said Haji Qasim, 47.
"They can't take care of their own security. How could we expect something else from the government?"
Khalid has attempted to rebuild support for the government among Afghans in recent weeks.
He appeared at local shuras - council meetings - and, in a show of determination, fired as many as 200 police in the district of Maywand when allegations of corruption surfaced.
But discontent is spreading among the local leadership.
A series of meetings expected to culminate in a formal letter of protest to the government have been held in recent weeks, with elders debating how to deal with what they see as an ineffective government.
"It is true that these kinds of bombings show that government is weak and can't control any thing," said one politician from the Panjwaii district who didn't want his name used.
"It is the responsibility of our government to do something about it, but we can't."
Afghans are growing frustrated with the slow pace of development in Kandahar.
They commend Canadians for projects like a major road being paved in Panjwaii, and for the one-day medical clinics held by the military. But they'd like to see more done by Canadians.
"We must see more projects," said Ahmed Wali Karzai, who represents Kandahar at the national legislature.
"Not a project a where a construction company makes more millions of dollars, but the type of projects where the money goes to the community."
Millions of dollars in development funding are earmarked for Kandahar province, yet as Kandahar city enters its second month without electricity even as a $600,000 building is being constructed for one local non-governmental organization, people are wondering where the development dollars are going.
Much of what the Canadian International Development Agency funds in Kandahar province is for basic needs. They, as well as Afghan politicians, say security still isn't good enough to move forward any further.
One civil rights activist scoffs at the claim.
"You end your corruption and then we'll see how security follows," Rangina Hamidi of Afghans for a Civil Society said of the government.
Hamidi said she has lost faith in the government.
"Corruption is not done by the poor man but at the hands of the powerful," she said.
"Tribal elders, politicians - because they have power over the population, there is not a single person to stand up to them."
