The Stories of Del Agha (brother)
Victims’ Names: Abdul Mateen and Shirin Agha
Date of Incident: August 7, 2015
Place of Incident: Sarai Ahmadzai, Shah Shahid, Kabul
I lost my brother, Abdul Mateen and nephew, Shirin Agha in the Shah Shahid incident on 7 August 2015. At the age of 32 and 23 years old, they were both the only breadwinners of their families and had rented a room in Sarai Ahmadzai to be able to work and live in Kabul. Mateen was married and had two daughters of fourteen and eight years old. Shirin Agha was working with the Afghan National Army and due to the work load had not been able to visit his mother and two sisters for a very long time. As he finally got some free time during the first weekend after Eid, he decided to visit his uncle on the Thursday, his family on Friday, and then get back to work on Saturday.
Unfortunately, his plans were left unfulfilled. I rushed to the Shah Shahid area after the explosion that Friday and found their room crumbled to dust. I went to search for them at the Emergency Hospital, NDS Hospital, and many other public hospitals but couldn’t find them, so I returned. The area was surrounded by security forces because the Defence and Interior Ministers had visited the area. They prevented us from entering the perimeter until the Minister of Defence heard the story and allowed us to search for our martyrs. We searched under the rubbles with excavators but found nothing except a book, a shoe, and a mattress. That distressed me even more because everyone from family and relatives kept calling to know if they were found or not.
Finally, Mateen’s body was found in the NDS Hospital and Shirin Agha’s body was found in Wazir Akbar Khan Hospital. Shirin Agha was working with the Ministry of Defense so his body was taken to Sardar Dawood Khan Military Hospital and then delivered to us. My nephew was appreciated for his work with the Afghan Military but we did not even get a mere condolence message for losing Mateen. The Government has disappointed and failed us not only in preventing violence and terror but also in supporting and caring for the victims.
With them we buried part of our lives and happiness. I added the few objects they had left behind to the Memory Box to let their memories live for longer and let others know how war and violence is to killing and destroying.
