Afghan Heroes
They didn’t have to do this. They could have run. But two Afghan civilians, an intrepreter and a security guard, dragged a would-be suicide bomber out of explosive-laden car as he tried to attack an American base. Those guys belong in the same gallery where Wesley Autrey stood last night.
Col. Tom Collins, the chief spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
“I think it’s a pretty amazing and heroic event,” Collins said.
He said that at about 9 a.m. Tuesday (10:30 p.m. ET Monday) a driver crashed his vehicle into Camp Phoenix, the base where the Afghan National Army and police are trained. The driver reached for what appeared to be a cord to detonate a bomb, he said.
“Amazingly, a couple of Afghans who just happened to be on the scene there realized what was happening,” Collins said. “Anyone’s inclination would have been to run away but these guys are genuine heroes.”
For a great view on the ground in Afghanistan, check out Afghan Lord. He just showed up in comments and is looking for technical advice.
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Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:51 am Comments (2) on Wednesday, January 24, 2007
2 Responses to “Afghan Heroes”
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January 24th, 2007 at 1:12 pm
I read something about this on Free Republic or some other message board. It seems that the Afghani who reached in and subdued the guy stands guard at the gate-usually unpaid with just that pipe. He does so because he has lost his entire family twice including once to the Taliban and he wants to show his appreciation. Whatever message board had the story noted that Xinhua (the Chinese news agency) had carried the story, but it seems that none of the major western news agencies had it (Jules CNN link above excepted). Just one of those things that make you go hmmm.
January 24th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
Blackfive also had a post about this last week. (RTO Trainer in the comments there is my huband whose currently living on Camp Phoenix)
This guy is also at Camp Phoenix and posted a few pics.