Kandahar Field-Trip: Suicide Bomber Attack and the Daily Threat for Civilians

July 19, 2008
The difficult security situation in Kandahar and the severe challenges facing civilians and NGOs were immediately apparent when I was driven this morning from Kandahar Air Field into the city. Squashed in the back of an armoured vehicle and wearing a bullet-proof vest, I saw the wreckage caused by a suicide bomber who had exploded himself only an hour earlier. I could still see his sandaled foot by the side of the road. This tense environment is something that the civilian population has to deal with, day after day. There is at least one suicide bomb attack every week in and around the city. In February 2008, a suicide bomber killed 80 people at a dog-fighting event just outside the city. I asked my Afghan driver who was born and raised in Kandahar how he and his family coped in this environment. He sighed, shook his head and told me how the women always make an extra effort to kiss their fathers, husbands, sons and brothers goodbye. “The women never know if their men will return,” he said. “Just stepping outside is a risk. But we have to go out. We cannot be trapped inside like animals.” Gesturing towards the remains of the suicide bomber, he added: “Why did he blow himself up here? There are no soldiers here. Just poor people trying to make enough money to feed their families. Tonight in my city there are even more mothers and wives left to grieve.”