Our Troops Continue to Pay the Price in Afghanstan

Credit: Gul Elham for the Associated Press



This photo appeared on the front page of the print edition of the New York Times, but for some reason didn't appear in the Web edition.  It's 10:30 am, on a bright, sunny day in the northern Afghan city of Maimana. The scene shows the outskirts of a public park where a video was being made of an outdoor vegetable market, perhaps symbolizing the return to normalcy in this war-torn region of Afghanistan. 

As American soldiers and Afghan police were involved in filming interviews, a motorcyclist turned his bike into the soldiers and police, killing three G.I.'s  and six Afghans as the Times reports.  I can't get the image of these two soliders, contorted in pain, out of my mind.  The soldier on the left is holding his head, probably concussed from the exlplosion, while the soldier on the right has had his helmet torn from his head completely.  Neither can stand up, even as one of the soldiers looks with concern at what's happening with civilians and the Afghan police. These two soliders are paying the price for our continuing presence in a conflict zone where we appear to have lost our purpose and resolve.

As Christian Holy Week moves towards Easter, let's remember and pray for all those caught in this web of violence, especially our troops and their families.