The Improbable Life And Stunning Death Of A Child Warrior

When his father was murdered, Wasil Ahmad vowed revenge. He was barely old enough to hoist a rifle, but still he trained to fight the Taliban. Finally, when the insurgents returned, Wasil found his chance. What he did next made him a legend. And then, of course, it made him a target.

- Joshua Hammer

All wars breed heroes, but some come in unexpected form. Wasil Ahmad was one of the unlikeliest. He was only eight years old when the war in Afghanistan, already a family affair, set him on a path for vengeance. One morning, about an hour’s walk from the family compound where Wasil slept, his father and three uncles stood guard at a newly built police checkpoint. For years, as the Taliban and the Afghan government had traded control of this stretch of southern Afghanistan, Wasil’s family see-sawed between both sides. Now, with the Americans pulling out, the men in Wasil’s family glimpsed new opportunity – and new jobs – as leaders of a US-backed police force. They pledged to fight the Taliban, to defend their valley from the insurgents.

They girded themselves for battle, which came that morning in the summer of 2012, as the Taliban swept down from the hills of the Uruzgan province and attacked the new checkpoint of the Afghan Local Police. Soon, the crack and pop of gun re rattled through the valley of Nawa Sultan Mohammad, and the fighting spilled into the surrounding fields. The police, commanded by Wasil’s uncle Samad, fought the insurgents throughout the afternoon and into the evening, managing to kill 10 Taliban fighters before the attackers were subdued. But three of their own had been gunned down, too – including Wasil’s father, Hamidullah.

That night, as darkness enveloped the family’s three-storey mud-brick compound, Wasil’s uncles shuffled Hamidullah’s bloodied corpse inside. The boy drew close, his cheeks wet with tears. In the low light, he could see the blood that stained his father’s clothes. He was a child, yes, but he knew enough of his world to realize, without even asking, who had killed his father. And he knew what it meant for him.