HOPE in changing landscapes
End of 2014 marks turning point for Afghanistan and its neighbors
Tajik students walk the road home following a day at Vanqala School .
The past two years has brought dramatically increased Taliban activity in northeastern Afghanistan ’ s Badakhshan province , putting pressure on Central Asia Institute-supported projects in this once-peaceful mountain region .
“ Just an hour ago a roadside bomb exploded on Warduj Road near to Yardar School , only 500 meters from our house ,” CAI ’ s manager for this area , Janagha Jaheed , said in early September . “ I was working and my mother and my wife came running , crying and shouting , ‘ Janagha , where are you ? Are you alive ?’
“ When I said , ‘ I am here and safe . Please don ’ t shout ,” they looked over at the road and my wife saw a big cloud of smoke coming from the school and shouted , ‘ Oh my God , the school is exploded . Oh , the innocent children .’ When my mother saw the cloud , she could not say anything because one of my sisters is a teacher there and my relative ’ s children go to that school ,” Jaheed said .
He called his sister , who said an Afghan National Army vehicle had exploded , and everyone was safe , but the Saripul students were scared .
Police and soldiers set up roadblocks , creating panic among parents from nearby villages who had come to check on their children , he said . In piecing together what had happened , army investigators found five dead people , and human body parts spread across the area , including “ a head by the river ,” he said .
Just the night before , “ around 9 o ’ clock , Taliban
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