|
|
Posted by Richard Dewsbery on 03/13/06 09:24
> The programme gave no idea why those kids moved deeper and deeper into
> Afghan and stayed there for long periods of times. Or why their family let
> them go into a war zone. By Oct 2001 the world and its bitch was told by
all
> and sundry that Alqueada were in Afghanistan and that war was a strong
> possibility.
It contained lots of ideas why these things happened. First of all they
went to Pakistan, so one of them could get married. When he realised that
this meant a really big party, he invited his mates over. Because they
didn't think that there might be a party in the offing when he first left
Britain. Thyankfully this was a really ORGANISED organised wedding - no-one
had to rush around sorting out the caterers, or buying a new suit. the lads
had plenty of free time to wander around and it was then they heard about
the plight of muslims in Afghanistan (I'm not quite sure what this plight
was, but it was serious, and our lads were determined to help).
So they went into Afghanistan to help, and for a look around. Although they
didn't go as part of any aid organisation, or with supplies of medicines,
blankets or dried food - or anything else aid-related for that matter. They
were also ill-equipped as tourists, without so much as a camera between
them. And unlike all the other aid workers, they had to be smuggled accross
the border by motorbike; I can't remember the explaination given on the film
as to why, but I'm sure it was as good and as plausible as the other
explainations.
Once in Kabul, Afghanistan, they sat around a lot, presumably becuase by
then they realised they should have brought some aid with them; sightseeing
was similarly curtailed by a lack of tourist guides, cameras etc. Still, at
least they had a nice Mosque to stop in - far better than those
radical-infested hotels and hostels that other tourists are forced to use.
(Actually I can't remember if the stay at the Mosque was in Afghanistan; it
might have been before they left Pakistan. But that would have been odd, as
they would have been put up by the same family members who were sorting out
the wedding).
They ended up going deep into Afghanistan after being given a lift by a nice
chap with a people carrier. Which obviously needed people to carry, and our
brave lads were only too happy to oblige. I'm unsure as to their exact
motivations for doing so - I guess that if they couldn't find any aid work
to do in Kabul, they thought that there might be more work elsewhere.
Although they once again forgot to buy blankets, medicines, food; they
didn't even take any spare naan bread with them (though I now know the naans
in Afghanistan are noted for their size).
When their lodgings turned out to be a Taliban barracks, which was attacked
by the Americans, our brave lads were ucky not to do any fighting (they're
peace-loving boys, after all). So it was a bit handy that they spent that
night wandering around in the dark, well away from any AK47s that lesser men
might have been tempted to use in the firefight. They did get a chance to
practice some aid skills when they came back just in time to bury the
bodies, though.
Finally it was another piece of bad luck that saw them surrendering as
Taliban fighters - when all the other militia men jumped in a truck to go
and surrender, our lads thought it was another aid column, but didn't have
time to ask anyone. I'm sure that they were flabbergasted when they
discovered that they had given themselves up to the Northern Alliance. It
was this shock that lead them to say they were from Pakistan, rather than
screaming "I'm British, and I want to see the consul NOW" like some
bewildered tourist.
All a bit of bad luck, really.
Next week's fairy story is Snow White.
Richard
Navigation:
[Reply to this message]
|