KABUL (Anadolu) – The families of thousands of Afghans killed in the United States’ 20-year military intervention in the country are now seeking justice for their deceased loved ones.
The 2001 invasion of Afghanistan by U.S.-led forces, ended in the withdrawal of foreign troops on the night of August 30, 2021.
More than 47,000 civilians lost their lives in the ensuing operations during those two decades under the guise of the U.S.’ “war on terror”, while the number of Afghans who died while working for the U.S. has reached 3,846.
Over 2,400 U.S. soldiers were also killed.
Though Washington was able end its longest war by withdrawing its troops, the suffering of Afghan families who lost their children, fathers, mothers, and relatives, lingers.
Having lost his three sons in night operations carried out in 2018 by U.S. soldiers in the eastern village of Vutapur in Kunar province, grieving father Mohammad Ekrem Khan told Anadolu Agency that his pain is still fresh.
“I couldn’t even attend the funeral of my young children because the roads were not safe, and that hurts me even more,” said Khan, who was in the capital Kabul during the U.S. troops’ so-called operation that killed his sons Abidullah, 12, Abdul Kahhar, 20, and Abu Zer, 26, in front of their mother.
His pain still vivid, Khan demands an investigation into their deaths and punishment for the perpetrators, asserting that his sons had no connection with terrorists.
Recounting their final night together, mother Zeynep Khan said, “After my children had dinner, they went to their rooms to sleep. A few minutes later, U.S. helicopters landed in the village. I couldn’t understand what happened.”
“Shortly after, U.S. soldiers climbed the wall and raided our house, breaking in the door,” she added.
She went on to say that the troops “shot dead three of my sons in front of my eyes, and tortured and took another of my sons with them”.
Mother Khan said she is still unable to forget that moment, even after so many years, adding that life had become meaningless after her sons’ death.
Zabanya Khan, the wife of the oldest son Abu Zer, said U.S. troops killed her husband in front of her, too, adding she has been struggling with mental health problems since then.
Yusuf Khan, whose three brothers were killed by U.S. soldiers, said he was also severely beaten.
One of the Khan’s fellow villagers, Zubeyde Safi, who lost her 40-year-old husband in a 2015 U.S. drone strike, tearfully expressed her grief.
“Right after the attack, a neighbor said that the field where my husband worked had been bombed. I ran to the field and came across my husband’s body, laying in pieces. That moment haunts me,” she said.
Safi is currently struggling to make ends meet with her two daughters, aged 15 and 17. She said her husband was innocent and she wanted the perpetrators punished after an investigation.
The U.S. must pay compensation for the murders committed during Afghanistan’s invasion, she said.
In just a few years after it was overthrown in 2001, the Taliban began regrouping, particularly in southern areas.