Taliban killings - Afghan officers: reality hits home, it's a small world
On New Year's Eve my daughter received a text from our former Afghan exchange student, who defected to Canada (2011), that her Uncle, an Afghan officer (police or military - unsure) was in Taliban custody. Today, Nadia called us and told us he had been killed. Like families around the world from time immemorial in these circumsances...like all of us - black, white, right, left, Christian, Muslim - Nadia, was weeping uncontrollably with grief at her family's loss.
Nadia's father also works with the police in eastern Afghanistan, so, presumably, is also vulnerable (we have always known this, but with theTaliban's power ebbing and flowing, now seems a particularly dangerous time).
Nadia is a very faithful Muslim. In our many discussions about religion, philosophy, politics, during her time with us, I learned much about Islam, and what true, beautiful faithfulness looks like. It is tragic that she now feels abandoned by her god, because, although I am a humanist/pagan/atheist, I am quite sure her religion is something she needs to rely on right now. This is what we create our gods for - to comfort us, if not to make everything right.
There will be no mention of this man's loss in the news, yet it is a huge and indelible marker in a family's life.