After being subjected to an American strike by mistake
An Afghan family trying to build a new life outside the country
Nasrallah Malikzadeh next to the car that was targeted by the American plane.
AFP
The effects of the strike are still visible in the courtyard of the modest home, where 10 members of one family were killed by a US drone fire that targeted them “mistakenly” in late August 2021, but nearly all survivors of the attack left the place, hoping to build a better future away from Kabul.
"I don't wish anyone to live what we lived, it's horrible, beyond imagination," said Emal Ahmed, 32, who has been residing for a month in a refugee camp in Qatar, hoping to be evacuated to the United States, in a phone call with him.
On August 29, 2021, Emal lost his three-year-old daughter Malika, his brother Esmray, who worked for an American NGO, and a number of his nephews and sisters.
The 10 family members, including seven children, were in or near the family car parked in the yard of the house when it was targeted by a US drone.
These dead were the last civilian casualties killed on the eve of the departure of the last American soldiers from Afghanistan, amid great chaos when the Taliban seized power in a lightning attack on Kabul.
A few days later, the US military admitted that it had made a "tragic mistake", as it thought it was targeting an explosives-laden vehicle belonging to ISIS fighters.
No sanctions were imposed on the military who made this mistake, because there were "no elements solid enough to assign personal responsibilities," but Ahmed said that the US administration is currently helping to evacuate family members.
The US military has admitted that it has accidentally killed 188 civilians in Afghanistan since 2018, according to official figures. A year after the strike, only 10 distant relatives were left in the modest two-storey house on a narrow street in a district north of the capital.
As for the individuals closest to the victims, they preferred to leave the house, which still bears the traces of the tragedy.
The smashed windows were replaced, the damaged walls were rebuilt and the house painted.
However, the floor at the site of the strike was not repaired.
Outside, the car of the second family, charred by the explosion, is still in the middle of the courtyard and covered.
"It was not intended to get rid of them in honor of the memory of the victims, and because it saved lives, as it protected the women inside the house from shrapnel," said Nasrallah Malikzadeh, 20, a member of the family who is in charge of maintaining the house.
"It is very sad, but it is God's will, what happened happened, we cannot go back," this young man confirms, as he passes the gate, above which were hung pictures of the 10 victims, smiling.
God will punish those responsible in the hereafter.”
The family faced many difficulties, so Emal lost his job after he was working with foreign companies, and one of his brothers received threats from unknown people who demanded money from him.
Washington's announcement of paying compensation to the family sparked many ambitions in a country suffering from a severe economic crisis.
But the family has not yet received any assistance, and it has hired a lawyer, whom it could not be contacted, to defend its interests.
Emal expresses his confidence in the American promises to pay compensation to the family, and he aspires, upon receiving his papers, to join his two brothers, who moved to the United States, while his sick sister left the house to a safe place in Kabul pending her evacuation.
"I hope a better future awaits me," he says.
The 10 family members, including seven children, were in or near the family car parked in the yard of the house when it was targeted by a US drone.
Washington's announcement to pay compensation to the family raised many ambitions in a country suffering from a stifling economic crisis, but the family has not yet received any help.
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