Wasil Ahmad
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Wasil Ahmad واصل احمد | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 2005 Urozgan Province, Afghanistan |
| Died | (aged 11) Kandahar, Afghanistan |
| Employer | Afghan Government |
Wasil Ahmad (c. 2005 – February 2016) was an Afghan child soldier, best known for commanding a police unit and his subsequent killing by the Taliban when he was eleven years old.[1] His uncle Samad, trained him "in the use of AK-47 and PK machine guns, rockets and mortars as well as satellite phones and VHF radios."[1] He took command of his uncle Samad's police unit, after Samad was injured in 2015. He was murdered on February 1, 2016, by two masked gunmen.
Wasil Ahmad was born in Uruzgan province. The region has been described as "long... a centre of conflict;" Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was born there, and the later president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, led the first Pashtun revolt against the Taliban there in 2001.[2] Ahmad's father had previously been killed fighting the Taliban, and his son later said that seeking revenge for his father's death was his main motivation in going to war.[1][3] Ahmad's uncle was the Afghan Local Police commander in Khas Uruzgan District, Uruzgan province. He had previously been a Taliban commander, but had changed sides in 2012, and was now fighting for the Afghan government.[4] In summer 2015, Khas Uruzgan- his area of control- was besieged by the Taliban, and Samad was injured. Ahmad subsequently took command of his uncle's unit.[1][5]
Siege
At the height of the Dan Sango[3] siege, Ahmad was commanding 75 pro-government soldiers against an attacking force of approximately "hundreds" of Taliban.[1] The siege itself lasted for 71 days, and Ahmad commanded his squad for 43 of them.[1] He fired both mortars and rockets as well as machine guns from the compound roof.[2] As well as physical fighting, Ahmad was also responsible for communications with the outside world, and the point of contact for the Afghan special forces.[3] When the latter raised the siege in August 2015,[3] Ahmad and 35 surviving soldiers were airlifted out by Afghan and NATO helicopters[6] to Tarin Kowt.[1] According to Samad, the authorities "praised him and his nephew Wasil as heroes."[1]