Kabul – The Afghan boy and his saxophone

 

 

 

The day dawned with a completely blue sky in central Asia, Afghanistan, wrapped up in that territory where the trail of silk, human emigration, wars and great empires was marked in the sheets of history. The conquest is shown as a crucial point for the invaders throughout civilization, facing campaigns and military propaganda where possibly everyone wants to keep the access routes concentrated on the borders with a geostrategic reference point for Asia.

 

The heat opened up a front of very strong lights in Marja, located in the district of Nad Ali, very close to a tribal area, where several ruralist families descended from nomadic Pashtuns carry out agricultural activities in the cultivation of wheat, rice and corn. On that calm morning, Rabi summons all the villagers to fetch fresh water from Kareze Saydi, a distance of seven kilometers. However, the burning climate and the drought that opened cracks in the ground, evaporated the only ponds and sources for the tribes and animals of that place.

 

It was approximately six o'clock in the morning, the bluish mantle in the empyrean was passing in the serenity of that village, among several mules, mares, donkeys and horses that descended the valleys carrying the containers with the children on their backs. With gray and bluish clothes, the women wore a burqa whose clothing covered the whole body, face and eyes, following the lineage of the Koran so as not to attract the attention of men and the desires of the flesh with their curves, other women wore a garment combined with a social type outfit in loose-fitting pants with a high-necked tunic and long sleeves in golden silk fabric mixed with various colors whose attire is a representative trait of ancient Afghan culture. Although men with headdress in green, black and blue used it as a hat, the traditional pakul and straight skirt type clothes open on both sides. Some villagers took ready-to-eat foods such as sher berinj with rice pudding, bojan salad, boiled cottage cheese and meat pudding Mantua on the journey.

 

Ahead, the mules were playing an important role in transporting loads, at which point a boy looks at an aircraft at the bottom of the horizon. And he shouts:

 

-Dad, a plane!

 

- Where my son!

 

-Up in the mountains, very low.

 

-Yes, I see. It's heading towards Baluchistan.

 

-Father, will he attack us?

 

-No. This cannot happen, we haven't done anything against the Americans. So he's just passing pretty far.

 

So far away the aircraft glided smoothly between the white and gray mountains on a reconnaissance mission. It was a US Air Force spy plane known as the "Vacuum Cleaner in the Sky" on Afghan soil with high sophistication, the EP-3E Aries II with an integrated electronic reconnaissance system. Its overuse is to suck all electronic communications from the earth, such as e-mails, phone calls, faxes, satellite transmissions, in addition to secretly listening to areas with movements and photographing targets, processing and forwarding them to military commanders operating in the region. . Its sensors, receivers and radiofrequency antennas intelligently map the areas, without using weapons, being operated by a crew of 24 people who have a large analysis laboratory, pilots, a navigator, three technical analysts, a flight engineer, equipment, technicians and mechanics.

 

The journey in search of water gathered approximately a huge line on that single dusty road with gravel and stones with more than a hundred people among children, women, young people, men and the elderly. From that moment on, all Afghans were submerged in the frustration unleashed by fear, despite the fact that there was no more noise in the skies and no aircraft scratched anymore. Still scared, the children searched the entire sky during the trip.

 

And mules have played a crucial role in warfare carrying food, weapons and other supplies needed by armies. Born from a donkey and a mare, they became preferred for carrying loads due to their greater resistance. From the command room, Lieutenant Vick sends a radio message to the NATO operations center in Kabul using the International Phonetic Alphabet with the following sentence.

 

-Lima–Oscar–Bravo-Oscar–Sierra---Fostrot-Uniform-Golf-India-November-Delta-Oscar---Papa-Alfa-Romeo-Alfa---Kilo-Alfa-Romeo-Echo-Zoulou-Echo ---Sierra-Alfa-Yankee-Delta-India---Charlie-Oscar-Mike---Charlie-Alfa-Romeo-Golf-Alfa

 

And which reads as follows: "Wolves fleeing to Kareze Saydi with loads"

 

Immediately, the military command in Kabul received the photographs and sent them to the secret base. At that hideout in the desert of a neighboring country, four soldiers were playing pool when they received orders to carry out surveillance with an attack on a dangerous target in the locality of Marja and Kareze Saydi.

 

Smiling and calm, the young soldiers entered the operation cabin and pressed the buttons on the computers, starting the engine of a drone that was on the runway ready for the operation. Taking off quickly, the aircraft silently sliced through the skies. Reaching a speed of seven hundred and forty kilometers per hour at an altitude of over twenty thousand meters.

That killing weapon silently streaked across the sky, invisible to radar systems and without a crew, it was only piloted via remote control by a military man over long distances. There, seated and watching the trajectory of the aircraft, he received the transmission of images in real time on the computer screen and retransmitted them to the Pentagon. Having coffee with his colleagues and laughing, the American piloted the plane as if it were a video game. Without delay, the drone sends the first images of the supposed target, when one of them said:

 

-Oops! There's going to be a lot of ham on the Afghan tables today. Look what a beautiful thing!

 

The head of the command completed smiling:

 

-It's going to be one of those sticks! With this surprise visit, they will even find shoes in Pakistan.

 

Robert who was accompanying the images, said:

 

-Turn on the infrared sensors, please!

 

-On and ready to go to the destination with seven thousand brides.

 

Robert surprised, said:

 

-There are many children, women and elderly people. Do not press now. Let's follow all this.

 

Vick already angry said:

 

-After all, I'm in charge of this operation. I do not allow third parties to tell me what to do. The target is perfect and no return. Don't you see they load guns and poppies on mules disguising themselves with women and children.

 

-Don't do that Vick! There are people who have nothing to do with the Taliban.

 

-For me, it doesn't matter if there are mice or cats. I received orders to sail and fire. Here I go... I'm going to corner everyone and send two bonbons, leaving a beautiful cloud of dust for more than ten hours in that hell. This is my America of the United States that no one can, it's the world's greatest potential for over a century. I love the United States of America and I am happy with a successful attack. Long live Obama! The King of War and Peace.

 

The drone, reaching a distance of two thousand meters from the target, launches the first missile, after the second, this opens a crater the size of a football field. The bodies smashed into miniatures and thrown hundreds of meters became unrecognizable. Newspapers and television spread the news that a convoy with drugs and weapons belonging to the insurgents had been routed with a drone attack in a rural area of Marja and Karezy Saydi in which all were killed.

 

Behind a grape plantation, next to a disabled Russian war tank, there was a boy with a wounded leg and fainting. After several days, and unable to walk just feeding on grapes and eggplants, the wound covered with grape leaves and earth, the stench of rotting meat became unbearable. The boy sought shelter inside the old war machine, finding a closed wooden box. With great curiosity, the kid opens it and finds an instrument.

The hours pass and the fever becomes the infallible companion of the torments until a farmer in the morning hears a noise coming from the war tank, and goes to the place and is surprised by the boy lying on the crate. The man takes the child and the box to the nearest hospital in the city in search of help.

 

Not long ago that in the south of Afghanistan there were massacres and mutilations carried out by the North Atlantic Organization - NATO, in the region of Helmand and Marja with more than fifteen thousand soldiers in the acclaimed operation of "Mushtarak" where the marines assured victory over the militants of the Taliban Islamic militia. It is known that US Army snipers were positioned on the roofs of houses, and units of marines and Afghan police were responsible for security in a veritable carnage.

 

At the hospital, the boy known as Adib tearfully describes the painful memories to the other patients, who just watch. With his eyes down and unable to walk, the little boy suffered without his parents, friends and neighbors from Marja, looking at his amputated right leg. The doctor at that very poor hospital gave priority to the little boy who didn't smile, just cried next to the box, which caught his attention a lot, saying:

 

-Adib, what's in this box?

 

-A device, doctor.

 

-Let me see.

 

-Yes.

 

The doctor opened the box and said:

 

-It's a saxophone. You play?

 

-No. I found it inside a tank shell. It's beautiful and I take it with me.

 

-I'm going to talk to a friend of mine to teach him how to play. You want?

 

-Yes, and very doctor. In the name of Allah, the merciful, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

 

-I'm not finished yet. But I'm trying to get a mechanical leg from the government so you can walk and feel happier.

 

After months, Adib already developed the mechanical leg well, being able to walk like anyone else, in addition to playing the sax very well, residing in the hospital, he opened a friendship with everyone who worked. One afternoon, three bomb explosions dropped by NATO near the hospital caused the boy to flee with the saxophone onto the highway. At the side of the road, he reached out with the box in his hand and climbed onto the bed of the vegetable truck. Unaware of the bonds of destiny, his eyes delimited dreams in the dust that was left behind in an echo of emotions that only Allah could affirm his path. In balancing the wheels, he shook the poor heart without the laughter that carried in the mornings of the locality of Marja that was once lost in sight.

 

Entering Afghanistan's most populous city, Adib looks out over the Kabul River with its gentle waters flowing down the slopes where it rises from the high Sanglakh Mountains. As he crosses the bridge over the Kabul River, he observes the old city that does not sleep on the bed of mountains and wars. Startled, Adib dips his eyes slightly between the buildings and public places where the old truck leaves behind the boutiques, pharmacies, fast food, shops and people on the streets, that's Kabul.

 

It was nine o'clock in the morning, close to the open market, the truck stops and Adib gets off with the box in hand, watching children his age working, some washing cars, others carrying fruit and many running from one side to the other in an illusion lost in the conflict that explodes. Dealing with tragedy in the glare of his eyes, war does not intimidate little Adib who opens the box and takes out the saxophone on a busy corner.

 

A little boy asks:

 

-Are you a musician? What is your name?

 

-I am. My name is Adib.

 

-Where do you live?

 

-I don't have a home, I just arrived. What do you do?

 

-I ask for money by knocking on doors. Sometimes you can earn twenty Afghans a day. And how old are you?

 

-Twelve years. What's your name?

 

-My name is Abud. I am nine years old. I no longer have a father, only a mother. My house was bombed by the Americans in Kandarah and everyone died there. Only my mother and I escaped.

 

-I lost everything, I have nothing but Allah.

 

-Adib, be careful with the blue-eyed man.

 

-What is the reason?

 

-He is dangerous. He picks up children from the streets and takes them to an NGO shelter. Once there, he treats the children very well and then sells us to America.

 

We get adopted in another asylum and then they take our organs to sell to the dying rich.

 

-True? And what do the police do?

 

-Nothing, Adib. Simply he works with the police in our capture, saying that he will feed and educate in a school. I have many friends who left and never came back.

 

-Thanks for the news.

 

-You want help? His leg can't support your weight like that.

 

-Thank you Abud. I'm going to play now and I want to see if someone helps me.

 

The Afghan boy supported his leg, held the sax in both hands and with the vibration of the wooden reed attached to the mouthpiece, he emitted the first sound playing an Afghan song. Instantly, several people crowded around the boy who was shaking with the instrument almost his size. Abud with a can in his hand collected the money he filled with Afghan banknotes, smiling and gesturing to his friend.

 

The night was coming, and Abud asked?

 

-Where are you going to sleep?

 

-I don't know.

 

-Don't you want to go home? Mom will love you.

 

-So, let's go.

 

As they passed through a commercial street, Adib heard a melodic sound coming from a store, and went there with his friend to check it out. Listening and remembering the beats of the musical notes of the singer Beyoncé, he said:

 

-Abud, this melody is beautiful. I'll ask the store clerk who sings that beautiful song.

 

Upon being told by the seller the name of the singer, Abud invites his friend, saying:

 

-Come on, it's late, we can't stay overnight in the center of Kabul, it's dangerous.

 

Upon arriving in the poor neighborhood of Abud, he had a wonderful reception at the boy's residence, there was no lack of caresses that wet the eyes of the little boy from Marja who, sobbing, said:

 

- You look like my mother. She has green eyes like hers and hands as soft as snow.

 

-Thank you my son. Now you have a house and a family, with the money I earn selling bags, I want you two to study and be like real brothers.

 

Enthused by the welcome, Adib asked:

 

-You let Abud work with me in the center while I play, he collects all the money.

 

-Clear. Now go take a shower and come have dinner with us.

 

The next day, the two friends meet in the commercial center of Kabul with the streets overcrowded with passers-by. When removing the instrument from the wooden box, a crowd around him observed the size of the boy with the sax in his hands. Someone in the crowd asked him to play Beyoncé. The boy tried to locate the female voice, however, without results. Firmly holding his mouth over the mouthpiece of the large metal instrument, he sustained for the first time that sweet melody that moved his head, drawing applause and screams from the young women who danced to the rhythm of the sax. And the Afghan notes fell at his feet as he repeated the music. Happy, and swinging the compass with his mechanical leg, the boy was sweating and his vocal chords rose and fell with the strong breath.

 

Voices added:

 

-Play more, I love it!

 

-Go boy!

 

-What beautiful! A kid playing Beyoncé!