Interwiew with a fighter...

by astroleni | October 24, 2007 at 07:57 pm | 270 views | add comment

We have lost everything

Istalif sits an hour's drive north of
Kabul, in the fertile Shomali plain. Once filled with vineyards and
crops, it is now a parched shadow of its past, struggling to
recuperate from the destruction wrought by the years of war and the
Taliban, who savaged the region and destroyed ancient irrigation
channels. Istalif' 70 years old village head Malik, along with his
son, describe the troubled history of the region.

Malik:

I am a strange man. When the king came,
I was the king. When the commanders came, I was a commander. When the
Taliban came, I was a Taliban. I have been a Taliban for three
generations!

Life was different when I was a young
man. We had a lot of things back then. We had a peaceful life. Then
suddenly things changed. The Russians came. From our land where our
kiln still is today, we could see their planes landing and taking off
at Bagram. Today it is American planes we see.

He Imans encouraged everyone to fight,
to start Jihad against the Russians. People came into the streets
with shovels, sticks, whatever they could find to fight with. Then
other countries arrived to support Jihad – and they had rifles.
Finally, the Russians were defeated but it was a very difficult
fight.

A lot of lives, too many lives, were
lost. Homes were destroyed.

There was no resumption of the peaceful
life the Russians destroyed , for after they left, the Mujahideen
came and began the civil war, then the Taliban emerged. When they
captured our village, they forced us to declare whose side we were
on: the Taliban or the Mujahideen.

We said Mujahideen, but we didn't have
the weapons toprove it. Life in the village became intolerable and
most people fled.

We took photographs while we were
fighting the Russians. A commander came and asked who would fight the
Russians. Those who said they would all assembled together and
someone took a photo of each one of us. Then, already grouped, we
were deployed. As you can see, we wore traditional clothes, but
carried Kalishnokovs. My son, who was only 14 and very small at the
time, stuggled to carry the Kalishnokovs. He kept falling down, he
couldn't bear its weight.

As there was a rivalry amongst the
villages, with those who wouldn't fight being called cowards, we all
wanted to fight, everyone was eager to. When we succeeded, we were
happy; when we failed, we were unhappy. It was a bit like supporting
a team.

Then after the Russian were defeated,
came the Taliban, and I was promoted within the ranks. I became
commander-fighting the Taliban. I feel like my entire life has been
dedicated to fighting. Today I can only hope for peace.

Malik's Son:

I remember when the Russians came. It
was a terrible memory. I was in school in Class 4, and that was it
for school. I never had the chance to continue. Now I can't read or
write or speak another language. The chance was gone, lost
forever....Then when I was 14, they came asking who was prepared to
fight the Russians,and I left this house, I left with nothing but the
t-shirt i was wearing, I had nothing at all, though my brother was
luckier because he took his hen.

I really don't feel I ever felt what
life was like as I have always been fighting. And something in the
fighting is inhuman, cruel. Everything changes, moral changes and
even disappear. We ate war. We lost everything: our islamic honour,
our houses, our country and our village.

Malik and his son were interviewed for
guardianweekly.co.uk

Wherever people is lack of “the
essentials”in life, we are all involved!

Wherever we can bring compassion and
healing inner wounds,

Hearts are still beating,

Wherever we are united in Soul, Peace,
finally, will break through!