Afghans still welcome Canadian presence despite suicide bomb blast
at 12:50 on January 30, 2004, EST (excerpt)
KABUL (CP) - While his shop is peppered with shrapnel, Attiqullah Baghan remains convinced that
Canadian troops make his neighbourhood safer.
The bomb that was aimed at Canadian soldiers, killing one, narrowly missed Baghan as he worked in his
shop 15 metres away. Baghan insists Canadian soldiers bring security, even if they also draw violence
sometimes. "It's because the people who did this bombing, the Taliban, the warlords, whoever, they are the
same people who destroyed my country," Baghan said Friday as he surveyed two-dozen shrapnel holes in
his tin door.
"Canadians, they had no part in destroying my country. That's why I want them here. If they go, it will all
start over again."
Local merchants, workers and pedestrians gather around Baghan's front stoop, not far from where the
suicide bomber's shoe and shawl still lie. They nod in agreement as he describes how life has improved
since the NATO contingent, led by Canada's 2,000 troops, arrived in the summer.
For Afghans, the recent violence barely registers compared to the previous two decades of civil war and
Taliban rule.
"Before the Canadians were here, we couldn't pass along this road for the robbery and thievery," said Abdul
Rassool, another area shopkeeper.
"During the civil war, you would never start a business. Before the Canadians were here, we got rocket
attacks from the same bunch. It's much better nowadays, even with a bomb attack."
A couple years ago, Baghan was a refugee in Pakistan who fed his family driving taxi. He returned after the
fall of the Taliban and now has a thriving concrete business, fuelled by a building boom that came with
rebuilding in the relative peace of the capital, Kabul.
On Tuesday, Baghan, 32, began his day like most others, opening his shop shortly after 8 a.m. He followed
his morning ritual, standing on the front stoop of his shop, watching traffic go by.
A customer arrived just as the Canadian vehicles approached his part of Darulaman Road, known to the
military as Green Road. Baghan noticed the two Canadian vehicles and went to the rear of his shop to
negotiate prices with the client just as the bomb went off.
Baghan ran out to see a haze of smoke, a blackened Canadian jeep and about a dozen injured people
wandering around. Baghan noted the calm of the Canadian troops, although he did not dare approach to
offer help.
"They didn't have any extreme reaction," Baghan said. "They calmly brought their friends to the back
vehicle."
"I could have helped them, but I didn't want to get too close. They might have been worried about another
bomb. I stayed away."
Baghan said most of the Afghan casualties were cyclists on their way to work. He helped two people,
including a man so deeply in shock he was walking on a badly broken leg.
Although Baghan still welcomes the Canadian presence, his seven-year-old daughter, Meena, is not so sure.
The girl once greeted Canadian soldiers with a smile and a wave as they drove down the road. One soldier
gave her a pen and notepad. Lately the soldiers have only come by in armoured trucks. Meena doesn't get
too close anymore, her father said.
Les Perraux
© The Canadian Press, 2003
Below is a sequence of video captures
from Iain's video, taken in December,
driving along Darulaman Road near
where the January 27 attack took place.
Iain attracts a couple of cautious waves
during a ride at close quarters through a
market area (video captures, Dec 2003)