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Sep 11, 2011

9/11 2011: View From The Afghan Field

Abdul Wali was four years old when he was hit by a bullet last week. The bullet came from a Talib who attacked a military patrol in bright daylight in a civilian area, the boy died. So what I did today on 9/11 2011, 10 years after the attacks on the Twin Towers, was putting my signature under the delivery of assistance to the boy’s father. Last Thursday I had already signed the incident investigation, thus 'officially' adding another civilian casualty to a maddeningly long list.


kites tangled, but flying. kandahar

In the past days a number of people have asked me whether 10 years ago I expected to be in Afghanistan today. The answer is a very obvious ‘no’: on 9/11 2001 I was at my student association spreading hay over the floor (…), thinking that a tiny sports-plane had hit the WTC in Amsterdam with no serious consequences. That the consequences of what really happened were grave enough to now have me living in an international compound in the former Taliban capital (Kandahar), investigating and assisting families of civilian casualties of fighting between International Military Forces and the Taliban did not exactly cross my mind. But, as I’m here…

In the past 15 months I have put my signature under incident investigations representing close to 1,000 dead, injured or otherwise affected (bombarded houses) Afghan civilians. That same signature has also been put under assistance packages for about 700 families. At the moment less and less of those killed or injured are a result of the international military forces which is a positive development in itself. It may show an increasing understanding of how not to lose a war (no one wins a war). For me, in the last months the number of civilian casualties by international military went up somewhat due to cases where civilians came close to convoys or ignored stop-signs: troops were nervous about the immense destruction caused by Taliban’s suicide bombers during this “fighting season”, and it showed (a bit).

The numbers that are up, skyrocketing almost, are Afghan civilians that have been killed or maimed by Taliban or other AGE (Anti Government Entities). The Taliban is clobbering the Afghan population like a piƱata at Osama Bin Laden’s welcome-party in hell. The big difference, and worry, at the moment being that the stick to beat with isn’t solely provided by the Taliban’s senior clergy in Quetta anymore, but by undisciplined and irregular gangs of younger fanatics that are not interested in politics or negotiation. Any optimistic reports on talks about peace-negotiotations or preliminary talks-to-discuss-to-talk-about-talks should be appreciated with the mental picture of Madrassa students willing to blow themselves up for eternal life, in the back of your mind. The ages and the mentality of the suicide-bombers that are currently caught before they can act don’t lie.

I am optimistic about the future though: the insanity currently displayed by the Taliban, combined with some very cautious advances in education and economy in parts of the country are enraging and empowering those Afghans that have thus far remained the real fabric of society: caring and loving parents that will indeed speak up if their sons’ and daughters’ glimmers of hope are trampled upon again, whether by the country’s politicians or the Taliban.

9/11 and its aftermath in the form of the Afghan war are as unwelcome as any other form of human suffering and the world has not become a more beautiful place because of it, but there are too many truly beautiful Afghan minds and people that yearn to wander and roam for us to now just say “we tried, but failed”. It's not about us: let’s allow them to try, and decide not to fail them.