Amina – 8 Years Old in Afghanistan

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This story was related to an interfaith peace delegation in Afghanistan and is recorded by delegation member Craig Wiesner.

I was outside in the kitchen making tea. The kitchen is just outside the house, separate. Everyone else was inside waiting for tea. I heard a rumbling and then suddenly everything turned dark. When I woke up, I was covered with dust and rocks… The entire house was gone, destroyed. I heard one voice crying out, it was my uncle, he was still alive, buried… Everyone nearby was afraid that more bombs were coming so no one came out to help for hours. Finally, some people came and helped get my uncle out of there. By then… well you see what he is like now. Crazy.

My mother, my father, my sisters, my brothers, my aunts and uncles, my cousins, all dead. We weren’t Taliban. We weren’t fighters. We didn’t do anything wrong. Why did you (the United States) do this to us?

I’m all alone now, except for my uncle, but look at him. I can’t understand why anyone would do this to us. I hate you. I hate America.