Traumatized villagers

"Are the American soldiers coming back, papa?" This is a question Fateh Mohammad hears almost every night. He and his family live in Zangabad, a small village around 40 kilometers away from Kandahar.

The US army has a Forward Operating Base close-by.

Sixteen people were shot in the early morning hours of March 11 in Zangabad, including nine children. Fateh Mohammad's sons and daughters had played with some of the victims. They are now constantly afraid and they want to know if there is a chance of such a massacre reoccurring.

Fateh Muhammad doesn't know what answer to give his children.

"When it gets dark outside, the children come to me and ask if the Americans are coming back to search the houses," says Muhammad. "They ask me, 'will we make it through the night?' All of us are mourning the deaths of the 16 people we lost - and for what? We still don't know.”

Stress disorders

There is no adequate explanation for the killing spree in Kandahar. The Afghan authorities and ISAF officials have promised a quick investigation into the incident, but there has been no adequate resolution.

A US soldier accused of killing the civilians has been charged with 17 counts of murder. However, Afghan MPs think there was more than one person involved in the massacre.

It is unclear how one US soldier would have been able to leave his base in the middle of the night and go into villagers' houses.

Because Fateh Muhammad and his neighbor Haji Gulalai want to protect their families, they have come up with a plan that has received a lot of support from many villagers.

"We have decided to split up our children and place them in different families and houses. If there is an attack, not all members of any one family will be killed, like they were two weeks ago," Gulalai explains.

Local police stations do not really exist in Afghanistan's villages - people have to rely on each other. Gulalai says this is one of the reasons many Afghans feel vulnerable and defenseless.

Hayatullah Rafiqi, a psychologist at the University of Kandahar, has talked to the villagers about their fears. They have told him that these increase after sunset.

Rafiqi says it is mainly women who are suffering from depression and psychological stress. However, he says everyone is in desperate need of help.

"Not only the people of Zangabad, but also people from other villages in the area are suffering. The government has to take steps so the people know they are not alone."

In a meeting last week, Afghan President Hamid Karzai promised the villagers of Zangabad help. But it does not seem to have reached them yet.

Author: Ratbil Shamel / sb
Editor: Anne Thomas