Shooting Kabul

by N.H. Senzai

Fadi blames himself for losing his little sister, Mariam, who was lost while Fadi, his mom Zafoona, his dad Habib, his elder sister Noor and Mariam were trying to escape the unrest in Afghanistan, which was their homeland and the place where they were born, and then seek asylum in the United States.

 Mariam is lucky enough to have possession of a small Barbie doll, named Gulmina. Any toys that depicted human figures were banned by the Taliban because they were considered sacrilegious. Books were also banned, so that’s why people would buy and sell them on the black market. Fadi only had one book, called ‘From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.’

While trying to board the army green truck that would take them to Peshawar, a city on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan, his little sister, Mariam got lost.  Fadi’s father had paid human traffickers twenty thousand U.S dollars, which was the family’s entire savings to get them into the adjacent country of Pakistan. Before Fadi could safely take Mariam to the truck, the Taliban arrived, and in that rush, poor Mariam got left behind. Later, all his family except Mariam were safe in the U.S. But Fadi never really fitted in his new school, only making a few friends. But then, along with the devastating news of 9/11, came the misjudged wrath of two American boys upon Fadi and a few other Afghani boys....

For me, this book was appealing because it showed and proved to me that not just the families of the people that were in the Pentagon and the World Trade Centre were affected but also the lives of many prejudiced refugees around the world escaping the Taliban but at the same time, being mistaken FOR the Taliban or al-Qaeda and framed as terrorists liable for all the terrorist attacks around the world.

It also made me realize how losing someone close to can feel, and the sense of guilt that one may feel.

It was a page-turning, exhilarating book that made me never want to stop reading. Definately a re-readable book in my view.