Unspoken Abandonment Read Online Free Page B

Within fifteen minutes, the riot was over and everyone was gone. I can no t even imagine how many people may have just been killed.
    The Afghan Police are very brutal and corrupt. The Police Chief is actually a former warlord who once controlled a large area of territory during the Taliban regime. It is said that he uses his police to traffic weapons and drugs, eliminate competition, and strong arm anyone out of any money he can. I ha ve even heard rumors that he is paid by the Americans to remain “loyal” to us. How true that is, I have no idea.
    The police here also seem free to rob at will. They set up security checkpoints, but they are more like toll booths. They allow American forces to pass through unbothered, but they rob Afghans of whatever they can find. Most of these people do n o t have anything to begin with, and then they are robbed by the so-called police. It just makes no sense to me .
    Today was a very nerve-racking day, but it is over now. I a m starting to get into a groove here, and I am trying to make it feel like a home. I try each day to go to the gym on the compound. It i s not the bes t, but all things considered it i s really not bad. I eat breakfast , and then I will either leave the compound for a mission or try to sleep. After a few hours of sleep, I w ake up and do it all over again . It i s becoming really repetitive, but I a m hoping the routine makes the time fl y .
    March 2, 2003 :
    It was a very quiet night again; long, dark, and cold. The lonely quiet gave me a chance to talk with Massoud and learn more about him and his people. Massoud said he was a mujahedeen fighter from an area called the Panjshir Valley.
    Massoud said the word mujahedeen means “holy warrior,” but the true mujahedeen think of themselves as freedom fighters. When the Russians invaded Afghanistan in the 1970s , they planned to make Afghanistan free of religion and ban Islam. The people resisted and the mujahedeen fought a long, bloody war against the Russians. After many years of fighting, the mujahedeen triumphed and the Russians left Afghanistan.
    Shortly after the Russians left, the Taliban rose to power. Massoud described the Taliban as a group of men who hid behind the religion of Islam and used Islamic law to control society, although their true motive was not religious. Massoud claims the true reason for having complete control of the people was so they could also have complete control of the money, guns, drugs, an d territory in Afghanistan. The mujahedeen rose again and fought the Taliban, with many being either killed or captured and subsequently tortured. This time the mujahedeen fighters had far less success than against the Russians.
    Massoud then described to me a new breed of radical Muslim fighters who are declaring a jihad, or holy war, and are also calling themselves mujahedeen fighters. Massoud said these men are not freedom fighters; they are killing innocent people with car bombs, rockets, landmines, and drive-by shootings. These men torture, maim, and ruin lives; they destroy the lives around them, rather than protect. According to Massoud, these new mujahedeen fighters are not, and never will be, true mujahedeen warriors.
    He also explained terrorism in Afghanistan. Massoud said the terrorist leaders try to justify their actions by calling it the poorest nation in the world striking out against the wealthiest. The fact is however, the terrorist leaders are actually very wealthy. Massoud said they are really trying to serve their own selfish motives and use the most impressionable people they can manage to manipulate. Massoud sadly said there are many people in Afghanistan who have never had an education, and they quickly follow the false teachings of these self-proclaimed leaders. Most Afghans do see through the lies, but many do not. As a result, violence has become a way of life in this country.
    Other than talking with Massoud, not a thing went on last night.
    March 3, 2003 :
    The night