CAPTION: Huw Riden in Kabul in 2002
Paratrooper Turned Priest Shares Afghanistan Reflection
Rev’d Huw Riden served in the Paratroopers in Afghanistan in 2001 and 2002 before becoming a photographer.
He was ordained in Exeter Diocese in 2017, serving as a curate in Exmouth before recently training as an army chaplain. He is currently Padre to 3 Division Signals Regiment.
Here he shares his personal reflection on the Taliban’s sweep back to power and the British withdrawal from Afghanistan, two decades since he and his comrades first went in:
A local Afghan boy in 2001. Photo: Huw Riden
‘A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic’. Afghanistan is quickly turning into a very bad statistic, while the sheer level of tragedy has become too much to comprehend.
As I watch the news, I find it a strange thing to see the familiar skyline of TV hill in the middle of Kabul. It’s strange to see my old unit, 2 Para, who are there now at the ‘end’.
It is nineteen and a half years since we first entered Kabul, that was back in late 2001 and early 2002. In those times the city was in a desperate state, devastated by the Russians, the Mujahadeen, the Taliban and the Northern Alliance.
Anything combustible for domestic fuel had been burned, not a tree or bush anywhere. There were old T55 Soviet tanks, shot-down aircraft, random missiles and unexploded ordinance randomly lying about.
The city lay under a blanket of noxious smog produced by the primitive petrol burning stoves found in every home.
Rooftop Prayers
I can remember one of the first Afghans I met, he was a boy who came to the main gate of our camp cradling his hand in pain. He had just had two of his fingers blow off by a land mine.
Jilalabad Road in Kabul
Strangely, the memories which stand out the most, the memories which contrasted most notably to the chaos of it all were the peaceful prayer meetings a few of us joined together for on the roof our accommodation.
When I watch the news now and see the reactions of those who have invested in Afghanistan; I see the disappointment, the grief and the anger written on the faces of our own citizens who have lost loved ones, limbs or large chunks of their life.
There is also the mixture of desperation and despair on the faces of those who had helped us.
I see the Paratroopers who are on the ground now, and I know what they are thinking and feeling.
They don’t want to be conducting crowd control or processing evacuees. They have been sniped at and booby trapped by a hidden Taliban for two decades, now the enemy has come out of hiding – the paras would like to settle a few old scores but they are also well disciplined and professional.
There won’t be any retaliatory attacks by the British troops, but they will defend resolutely if needed.
Kabul seen from TV Hill in 2001
“Why did we pay that price?”
When you consider the sheer volume of human life, commitment, effort and money which has been pumped into Afghanistan over the last twenty years, it is mind-boggling.
Although the figures are too great too process, we can (to some degree) empathise with the individual soldiers who have lost their limbs, and with the families who have lost loved ones. And in response, we too are pushed into asking the simple but profound question: ‘why did we pay that price’?
Reasons to Hope
If I was to be hopeful, I would say, perhaps the Taliban of today will not allow Al-Qaeda (or contemporary variants) to run terrorist training camps in Afghanistan anymore. Or, this Taliban is a new generation, the last 20 years may have allowed them to ‘grow up’, the new lot may not want things to be as bad as they were before.
The people of Afghanistan may be developing a national identity to replace the split tribal one, a growing positive strength in unity? Globalisation and the interfacings with other nations and the cultural cross-pollination of different values and standards may have relaxed some of the former hard-line extremism.
The people may learn to stand up for themselves, they may seek justice for the oppressed, the weak and marginalised.
Rev’d Huw Riden outside Exeter Cathedral
After all, isn’t that what’s been happening in our own Western democratic states after the George Floyd tragedy?
Change is slow, but change is very persistent.
It is understandable how tragedy can be found in the death of one person, but it is very strange when continuous hope can be found in the tragic death of one person.
My hope is in the life and death of the one person, Jesus Christ. Tyranny, suffering, abuse, even death itself can be overcome.
I am reminded that among the tragedies and ‘appalling statistics’ of this life – there is always hope.
There is not much that can be done for Afghanistan right now, but hope still prompts us to pray.
A few of us Paras met and prayed in Kabul when this small chapter was first being written, nearly twenty years ago. I reckon a few are praying now.
This new chapter of Afghanistan is starting in a much better place than the one dated 2001 – 2021. Let’s continue in hope and prayer for that country even when it’s not in the headlines.
