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Journey to Afghanistan - Chapter 5, page 15

A Day of Rest in Afghanistan - by Ken Magee

As we followed our guides around the remnants of the central building we noted both spent and active ordnance littering the ground. Some was in heaps and in other places was spread like gravel. I was careful to place my feet where footprints were already evident. This building had large and complex subterranean rooms and passageways. We were told that her Lindh and others refused to give up as the fighting wound down and only came out when it was flooded with water. Doctor Tom and I crawled through a hole in the wall and with a flashlight carefully descended into the basement area. It was yet very wet and the remnants of garments covered much of the immediate floor space. Realizing the lack of safety, we did not explore far.

One of the soldiers accompanying us told of being a Northern Alliance guard during this tragedy. Early in the uprising he had been captured, bound and placed in a ground level room in this same building. He showed us where he had been left trussed and unable to move during this fighting. Fortunately the wall he had lain against was yet standing.

Remnants of three trucks the prisoners had commandeered were only about thirty meters to the west. They were twisted heaps of metal and wood.

Mukhabet showed us the high fortress wall to the east behind which she had hidden. She related that several members of the American Special Forces were on that wall, watching and calling in air strikes. Soldiers of the Northern Alliance would advance on the enemy for a bit amid much fierce fighting, then retreat to the walls to allow bombs to be alternately dropped by the planes overhead. She told of seeing a group of Taliban fighters trying to escape over that same wall. They were caught and their throats were cut. The total experience was described as "horrible." Many hundreds died.

Nearly three months later I was privileged to revisit the site of all this carnage. Much work had been done in cleaning up the devastation. The breach in the wall had been mostly repaired, live and spent ordinance had been gathered into piles - though some small bullets, shells and slugs were still evident mixed with the gravel, and the rose garden was blooming. Most of the roses were dark red.

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