On the northern edge of the city of Lashkargah in the center of Helmand, a woman who lost four of her sons in one day in an aerial bombardment by British forces, says that now her 29-year-old son Mohammad Baran is the guardian of her 28 children.
This heartbroken woman narrates the story of the killing of her children in a crying voice like this:
“The British air force attacked them at the crossroads of Gereshk and we collected the pieces of their existence. Now, who will take care of their children in this difficult winter?”
Baran, who takes care of this large family, says that his brothers went to work in Kandahar, but were killed by aerial bombardment on their way back.
“When they returned home, they were attacked by British forces in the dilemma of Gereshak district and were killed”.
He says that now it is up to him to take care of all the orphans and widows and he has no one else to ask for help.
“So far, neither the government nor charities have helped me, nor I don’t even have anything for dinner”.
At the same time, Baran asks the government and the international community to compensate the victims of the war in Afghanistan.
On the other hand, Ehsanullah, the younger member of the same family, said to Killid in a crying voice:
“I am an orphan, my uncles were martyred, there is no one to buy me slippers and shoes, we have nothing, we reach out to everyone, but no one helps”.
Crying Ehsanullah said that the government and other charities should help them.
One of the neighbors of this family, 60-year-old Saleh Mohammad, says that as soon as he heard the news of the attack at the Gershak intersection, he rushed to the scene of the incident and was faced with a very terrible scene.
“We went to the scene, collected the pieces of the martyrs, and buried them, there is one person left from this family and the number of the family reaches 30, but no help was given to them, we are not able to take care of them either”.
It’s not just the Baran family who are mourning their loved ones. Another family has lost three members of their family, two of them children and one of them is a young girl in Terikh Naru area of Navah district.
They also claim that their family members were killed in an airstrike by British forces. The head of this family, whose name is Saddam, says:
“There was a war here, the British forces attacked, 3 people were killed, and so far no one has heard our voice and no help has come to us”.
On the other hand, Saddam’s mother says that the British forces should compensate them and other families like them.
“So far no one has helped us. And the British forces martyred our children, they should pay us compensation, our situation is very bad”.
Abdul Karim, a resident of Terikh Naro village, also confirmed that the children of this family were killed in the aerial bombardment of the British forces, but said that neither the previous government, the current government, nor the international community helped them.
“3 of them were killed by the British forces in an air raid, but no one has helped them yet, they are suffering from drought, it is necessary for the government and the British forces to help them and give them something”.
Sardar Wali, a 12-year-old son of the same family, says: “We are in a bad situation, neither the current government nor the previous regime has heard our voice”.
Officials of the Helmand province administration say that many families also lost their members in the airstrikes of foreign forces.
Maulavi Mohammad Qasim Riyaz, deputy director of information and culture in Helmand says:
“In this province, a large number of families were injured in the aerial bombardment of foreign forces. We are trying to encourage relief organizations to help them”.
This Helmandi family wants compensation for their loved ones in a situation where the British government has recently confirmed the death of 64 children in Afghanistan, of which compensation has been paid to 16 families. He also said that British forces may have killed 135 children in Afghanistan during the war.
Translate by: Shir Ali Jafari
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