The world is increasingly brutal, yet when you read something such as this you realize that despite being in the 21st century there are some who have absolutely no compassion — and that we should not forget who we and others are fighting against.
Suspected members of the Taliban on Friday hung the 8-year-old son
of a local police commander in southern Afghanistan after ordering his father to surrender, according to a news report on Saturday.
The Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) news agency reported that the young boy was kidnapped by militants in the Greshk district of Helmand province on Tuesday. They had ordered his father to surrender to the Taliban or else the boy would be executed.
“The militants had warned his father, who is a local police commander, to surrender with his police vehicle and weapons, otherwise they would kill his son,” provincial governor spokesman Daud Ahmadi told DPA. The boy was hung on Friday.
While child executions by the Taliban are not common, children often fall victim to Taliban militants when they carry out attacks. But children have also been used by the Taliban as suicide bombers.
Shall we run that again?
While child executions by the Taliban are not common, children often fall victim to Taliban militants when they carry out attacks. But children have also been used by the Taliban as suicide bombers.
In this case, just think about the anguish of the father. And think of the awful final days of that child.
The real monsters are not in horror movies.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.