Afghan man accuses American pilot’s arrogance over brother’s death, calls for investigation

KABUL, Sept. 16 — “He was a pilot of an American plane and not driver of a rickshaw. His arrogance caused the death of many Afghans including my brother Zaki,” alleged Hajji Zukria.
Sitting cross-legged on a mattress in a rented house here in Qala-e-Fathullah locality of Kabul, Zukria accused the arrogance of the U.S. pilot of the death of his brother Mohammad Zaki and called for a thorough investigation.
“The irresponsible pull out of the American troops from Afghanistan has caused many deaths and proved tragic to many families including mine as my younger brother Mohammad Zaki lost his life in efforts to leave the country by U.S. military plane,” the depressed man told Xinhua at his home.
Following the fall of Kabul to the Taliban on August 15, thousands of Afghans including men, women and children rushed to Kabul’s international airport to leave the country, as the United States and allied nations were attempting to accelerate the departure process of their nationals including soldiers and Afghans who worked with them over the past 20 years.
Some desperate Afghans even tied themselves to the wings and tires of U.S. military planes and Zukria’s brother Zaki was of them. After the plane took off, Zaki fell down from the plane tire and died on the spot.
Hajji Zukria runs a grocery shop in Kabul to support his family but rarely goes to work nowadays as the heart-broken family has not recovered from the loss of Zaki, a student of grade 12 in a local school.
“The young Zaki was martyred due to arrogance of the American pilot. Zaki was 17 years old and played football to become a member of the national team,” said Zukria, wiping out his tears.
More than 120,000 Afghans have been evacuated, mostly those who had worked for American or allied soldiers and companies during the U.S. occupation in Afghanistan, according to media reports.
However, many more stayed outside the airport for over two weeks and their efforts to leave the country went wasted as the United Stated announced that their troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan completed before August 31.
“Thousands of Afghans had been killed and maimed during the 20 years of U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and countless more had died during the forces’ irresponsible withdrawal from the country and the United States should be held accountable for the tragedy,” Zukria said.
His 80-year-old father lost his mental balance after hearing the death of Zaki and could not talk, said Zukria.
“The sudden death of Zaki has broken his backbone and won’t be easy to recover,” Zukria said.
“The U.S. irresponsible invasion of Afghanistan, occupation and irresponsible exit from the country had claimed thousands of lives and would continue to haunt Afghans for years ahead,” he added. (Xinhua)