Gunshot wound

* Allah permitting.

† Asalamu alaykum: Peace be upon you. — Walaykum asalam: And upon you, peace.

‡ Thank you very much.

§ “Please send me material on Anti-Jamming as well as Electronic Counter measures …, ” the General wrote him in 1984. But the poor Young Man, try as he would, could find out scarcely anything about this subject. He did not have the right connections.

‖ Yusuf Ali was certain that all the boys in America touched each other. “Have you ever touched another boy? ” he asked. “No? Very good. You are a pure, gentle boy.”

a Probably this is why doctors so often seem callous to those who do not have to do their work. Beset with a flood of suffering and dying, they must accept the fact that they can make almost no difference. Good doctors, of course, only work that much harder.

b “Professor E— B—, the judge for this year’s B— Prize in Political Science, asked me to convey to you his admiration for the work, ” wrote the administrative assistant. “Although not really ‘political science, ’ as literature it is splendid.” —A literary agent thought that it had some good political insights, although it did not stand up as literature.

c In 1982, someone told me that an American dollar was worth the equivalent of ten dollars to a Pakistani, and a hundred dollars to an Afghan.

d INTERARMSGram: May 8, 1984

Mr. William T. Vollmann

San Francisco, CA 94122

Dear Mr. Vollmann:

We thank you for your inquiry and request for quotations on anti-aircraft missiles and launchers. We are sorry to inform you that we are unable to be of assistance on these items as we do not handle this type of armament.

Very truly yours,

Carl Ring

Vice President

CR: smc

INTERARMS · NUMBER TEN PRINCE STREET · ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA 22313

e “To Wm. Vollmann the PRESIDENT of Afghanistan Media Committee: We the Revolutionary Community Party of America condemn your rightwing propaganda. We will fight your death propaganda by whatever means necessary.”

f At that time I thought such distinctions very important, because if disease in the camps was no worse than it had been at home, then I could not blame the Soviet Union for it, so it did not matter. (If this book is only about the effects of the invasion of Afghanistan, then of course that is a fair way of looking at the matter. Fortunately for my soul, it isn’t.)

g “Abdul, four Fantas! ”

h In 1982, the official rate of exchange was Rs. 11 to the dollar. The black-market rate was eight to ten rupees higher.

i Babrak Karmal was the Soviet puppet in Kabul, later replaced by Najibullah.

j The occupation forces found it convenient to conscript Afghans to fight the Mujahideen. The conscripts were put in the front lines; thus the Mujahideen could usually kill only other Afghans. Many boys were forcibly inducted at their high school graduation or earlier.

k Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations, I.393.

l However, some camp inmates did draw a distinction between Mujahideen (holy warriors in what was primarily seen as a religious war) and Mujahers (people who had become refugees as a result of anti-religious persecution). For the Afghans, the religious nature of events cannot be overemphasized. What they especially despised about the Soviet invaders was that they were atheistic. This helps to explain why they were so perplexed about public inaction toward their cause in the U.S.A. We Americans were also People of the Book, weren’t we? Then was it not our religious duty to help the Afghans? — The Afghans had many illusions still to lose about us.

6. THE LUCKY ONES: REFUGEES IN CALIFORNIA (1983–87)

One family including women and children found shelter in a cave, but Soviet soldiers killed them with grenades thrown into the entrance.

AFGHAN INFORMATION CENTRE, Monthly Bulletin No. 11 (March 1982)

Perhaps the most important and widespread issue concerning Afghans resettling in the U.S. is the psychological malaise or depression many experience … Though they are grateful for having been able to come to the U.S., Afghans still feel they are strangers in America.

ALLEN K. JONES, U.S. Committee for Refugees, Afghan Refugees: Five Years Later (January 1985)