9/11 in Afghanistan

The death of Ahmad Shah Massoud was not confirmed yet. He was one of the last formidable commanders of resistance forces against the Taliban—retreated in a little corner of the country. There was an assassination attempt on him on Sept. 8, 2001. If his death was confirmed, it was very likely the biggest achievement of the Taliban.

It was evening. We had dinner. As usual, Dad was cranking the radio knob from Voice of America to BBC Farsi to a local station. One of those stations reported that America was attacked. We had absolutely no idea what that even meant. I rang my classmate Wahid. Wahid had hidden a satellite dish and was able to watch TV, perhaps the only window to the outside world for us. He was trying to explain what he was seeing. He said the building on the cover of our English book was hit by a plane … two planes.

Around midnight, we heard booms. It was rockets and bombs of sorts. Is it America? Maybe. Who knows. BBC confirmed it was a helicopter from the Northern Alliance, not America.

That was the night of Sept. 11, 2001, in Kabul.

Fast forward to Sept. 11, 2019. Since that day, Taliban have killed 17 dear friends and family members. They were innocent bystanders, members of security forces and journalists. The latest victim was Zahir, killed when he and his team arrived at the scene of an attack to save lives and secure the premises. Nine others carry the physical scars of Taliban attacks. The rest of us carry the emotional scars.

Now, let’s talk forgiveness. On the surface, it appears an easy word. When it is just the word, it is easy to throw it around. No. Forgiveness is not easy. It may be easy until you have someone to forgive.

The Taliban has taken too many precious lives from me. I do not have an answer for Afghanistan’s problems—but I do know that Taliban and their sick ideology is not the answer and it has no place in Afghanistan.

So 9/11 is not a meme for me. Zahir was killed 50 days ago.

KHALID AHMADZAI Fayetteville