A Time To Kill: Part II

Hantu Laut

The day of reckoning for Amir Hosseni had arrived.After having been trained for almost six months in a terrorist camp somewhere in the mountainous region of Uruzan province he is ready to be deployed on a mission.

Hosseni remembers the day when he came back to his village and found it completely razed to the ground by a bomb dropped from high altitude flying B-52 American bomber.Everyone of his family and many other villagers were dead.According to survivors there was a wedding on that day and large tents were put up for guests to the wedding. The tents were set next to his family house in his neighbour's compound whose daughter was getting married hence the reason his neighbour and his family were completely decimated.The Americans might have mistaken it for terrorist encampment.

Badal (revenge), part of the 'code of honour' of 'Pashtunwali' has always been on Hosseni's mind and he wanted to make it as deadly as possible for the Americans.Those bastards have to pay for the death of his family members.He thinks of his two younger brothers, three sisters and mother who are now dead.His father a mujaheddin fighter was killed during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Another thing on Hosseni's mind was Osama Ben Laden, whether he is still alive, because nobody in his camp have ever mentioned his name or talked about him or his whereabouts.When he first arrived at the camp he asked one of the recruits who had been in the camp earlier than him whether Osama is still alive or dead. He was warned not broach the subject or mention the name again.He was told he could be killed if he ever tried to find out about Osama.

Hosseni forgot there were many other things in the unwritten 'Pashtunwali' code of honour.Pannah Warkawel (offering asylum) and Panah (protection) are high on the code of honour of the Pashtun people.

The reason Osama had not been caught or killed till today was due to this strong code of honour among the Pashtun people.They will protect Osama with their own lives. The FBI offer of up to $25 million reward for information that can lead to his capture, dead or alive, had not brought any success.

When the US launched its attack on Afghanistan shortly after the attack on the World Trade Centre in New York on 11 Sept 2001 it sent 50 cruise missiles launched from submarines in the Arabian Sea and bombed almost the entire country using B52 and B2 Stealth bombers.About 3000-4000 Afghan civilians died in the first wave of attack. Since then many of those that have lost their families to American bombings have either re-joined or joined the Talibans to fight the infidels and to drive them out of Afghanistan like what they did to the Soviets before and the British even earlier before.

President Bush defended the bombing and invasion of Afghanistan and called it war on terror.His primary objective is to capture Osama and dismantle the Taliban.The US failed on both fronts.

A decision had to be made whether to send Hosseni to a US Military installation near Kabul or send him as suicide bomber to kill the 'Lion of Panjshir' Ahmad Shah Masood who had become a big pain to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda and is now their biggest enemy.Masood is the West's key ally and has been fighting the Taliban for many years.He was also the leading figure that drove the Soviet Army out of Afghanistan.

Being a Taliban and a Pashtun and his immense hatred for the American he wouldn't mind killing an Afghan friendly to Westerners.Ahmad Shah Masood is a Tajik and a Western's ally and,therefore, deserve to die.

To be continued.....