^[1]KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN: In August 2008, I saw a car bomb explode on a busy street in Kandahar city, just after a NATO convoy drove by.

The bomb did not damage the NATO military vehicles but it killed many students. People were screaming. I could see some had lost a leg or a hand.

My friends and I tried to help the injured but the police didn’t let us. They told us to go home. I felt scared and upset.

That night on TV I saw a report on the bombing. The police stated that no soldiers were killed. All the victims were innocent civilians. But the report also cited a Taliban spokesman who said that the blast had killed five American soldiers and destroyed their vehicle.

I’m sure many people in Kandahar believed the Taliban version of events. But it was not true. I saw what happened.

One of the victims was a boy I knew. His name was Ahmad and he was only 21-years-old. I will tell you one day about Ahmad and what it was like for his family to find out that he had been killed.