Visit The Series Page:
Report From Afghanistan
(Host) This week, as
part of VPR’s series, "Report From Afghanistan," we’ve been bringing you an
audio journal recorded by Larry Doane, who commands a Vermont National Guard
unit.
Today, in the final
entry, Larry Doane describes a meeting with a captured insurgent.
(Doane) It’s a strange feeling to see the face of
your enemy. This isn’t my first war but
it still unnerves me a little to look into the eyes of my foe.
The troopers in my unit
have taken captives following an attack.
Now I find myself eye to eye with someone who would be just as happy to
see me dead as alive. But it’s not what
you might imagine. He isn’t the black
turbaned Taliban of our country’s collective imagination. Instead, I’m looking at a rather unassuming
man with a neat beard and slight of stature.
With his hands bound on
the side of the road he seems harmless. I can hardly imagine him planting a bomb in
the road, much less orchestrating an attack against one of my armored
platoons. But that’s what he did and now
that choice has made him my prisoner.
There’s no hint of
malice in his face, no stream of threats or curses flowing from his lips. Instead a mute silence is all he offers. He is calm, resigned to his fate. Perhaps it is his interpretation of In’shallah.
Many Afghans believe
that if God wills it there is no point in struggling against the events of
one’s life. And while the concept of
In’shallah is interpreted by my prisoner one way, it holds another meaning for many
of the Afghan security forces that fight alongside of me. Instead, they fight with a ferocity and
abandon I’ve never seen before.
The Afghans who fight
with us are in many ways as unassuming as the man we’ve taken prisoner. But unlike my enemy these faces are open to
me. I see their desire for friendship as
plainly as the dark shocks of hair on their head. And, In’shallah, when I leave this place,
perhaps these faces of friendship will be the only ones I carry home.
(Host) VPR commentator and Vermont National Guard
Captain Larry Doane. You can find all of
Larry Doane’s audio journal entries at our website: VPR dot net. Click on "Report From Afghanistan."
Our series continues Saturday when we hear from
VPR’s Steve Zind, who’s in Afghanistan for three weeks to cover the Vermont Guard.