Story of a Taliban Ambush
KANDAHAR: AFGHANISTAN: Abdul Khaliq was a poor farmer from the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province. On February 6th 2009, an international organization gave him free wheat seeds, fertilizers, and cement parcels so that he could make a living without having to grow opium poppies.
That same morning Abdul rented two trucks with drivers and helpers to transport these goods from Kandahar city to his village in Panjwayi.
While on route, a group of Taliban ambushed the trucks. The fact that the trucks were carrying “infidel products” was enough for the Taliban to murder everyone on the spot without conducting any further investigation. Along with Abdul, the Taliban killed the two truck drivers and their two helpers. Their bullet-riddled bodies were found in a small side road not far from the site of the attack.
I knew Abdul because he was a relative of a friend of mine. As soon as I heard what had happened I went to Abdul’s house.
His body was covered with a cloth and laid out in the courtyard of the family’s house to allow relatives and friends to take a last look at him. When I saw him I could not believe my eyes. It looked like the Taliban had emptied three magazines of AK-47 in his body. How can human beings do something like this? How can they go so far away from humanity?
Abdul’s brother was yelling and screaming in front of the body while his relatives tried to calm him down. I could hear crying and wailing coming from the women’s quarters. The 7-year-old son of Abdul was also there.
In that house full of misery and desperation I became deeply upset and fell into my thoughts. As a civilian living in Kandahar I know about these things. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the United States or the Taliban doing the shooting. Those who get killed are always civilians. I remember thinking to myself: today the Taliban killed Abdul in cold blood; tomorrow perhaps the American soldiers will do the same to someone else.
August 12th, 2009 at 2:17 pm
So this guy needed two trucks and four people to transport the free goods he received from an international organization? How much stuff did they give him? 100 bags of seeds? 200 bags of fertilizers? Enough for five different villages? That sounds strange…
August 13th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Hello Nico, I am Zabih Farhad, the author of the report. I want to answer your comment.
Abdul rented two small trucks–smaller than those shown in the picture above. These small trucks can carry approximately 10 to 15 parcels each. So they were not large trucks.
Abdul received approximately 15-20 parcels in total, between the seeds, the fertilizers, and the cement. Therefore, he needed two small trucks.
Abdul preferred small trucks also because they are much faster than the large ones. One of Abdul’s friends told me that he had wanted trucks that were small and fast because he was afraid of the Taliban.
There were 5 people in total on the trucks. Abdul, two drivers and two helpers.
In Afghanistan, trucks usually travel with a driver and a helper. Most of the time the driver is also the owner of the truck, and he hires a helper to check and clean the truck. The helper also loads and unloads the cargo, and is responsible for fixing punctured tires.
I hope this information answers your questions.
August 27th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Can you tell me, how do you guys survive in Afghanistan, becasue it looks pretty hard from here.
December 25th, 2009 at 9:17 am
I want to quote your post in my blog. It can?
And you et an account on Twitter?
January 7th, 2010 at 3:42 am
Hello Feelov,
Thank you for your interest in our work. You may re-publish this article in your blog, as long as you cite the name of the author (Zabih Farhad) and the source (The Journalist Connection).
Best,
Federico
Editor
February 6th, 2010 at 6:21 pm
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