About Me

"Note that this article was first published in the New York Times and if you reproduce this article you must retain this notice.

My name is Waheed. I am 22 years old. I work for the US Army as an interpreter, since 2002. I have mostly spent my life in war and conflict. I was born in 1984. During that time our country was invaded by the Soviet Union and from that time fighting started in our country between Mujahideen and Soviet army. After the Soviet army left we had a civil war and then the hard-line Taliban regime. So during these wars we couldn't live in peace. When the Taliban took control over the capital Kabul, my family went to Pakistan. Life was really hard for us there. I couldn't go to school because I had to work hard and to support my family. I only had a little time to learn English in an Afghan refugee English learning center. I was very disapointed at that time. I thought I would not be able to finish my school and it was making me feel very upset. During the Taliban regime the world community forgot our people, but after the 9/11 terrorist attacks they realized that now is the time to fight the terrorists and American troops ousted the Taliban regime and a new wave of hope came to our people."
Afghan Warrior