Feature: Afghan victims of U.S. "war on terror" still suffer

Photo taken on Feb. 27, 2022 shows a market destroyed in U.S. air strikes in Sangin district of Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The U.S.-led coalition forces may have run from Afghanistan last year, but the indiscriminate killing and widespread atrocities committed against the Afghan people during the occupation will haunt the victims and their families for years. (Photo by Arghand/Xinhua)

SANGIN, Afghanistan, March 1 (Xinhua) -- The U.S.-led coalition forces may have run from Afghanistan last year, but the indiscriminate killing and widespread atrocities committed against the Afghan people during the occupation will haunt the victims and their families for years.

Abdul Wajid witnessed wholescale slaughter in southern Helmand Province. "For 20 years, we watched killing, destruction and terror. Our business, trade, economy and agriculture were reduced to zero," Wajid, who is in his thirties, told Xinhua recently.

Standing in front of a bombed-out building in Sangin district, Wajid recalled being under attack day and night, from all directions: "It was horrific. The bodies of our people were all over the streets."

Rejecting U.S. claims of pursuing terrorists and reconstructing the country, Wajid pointed at the devastation everywhere. Houses, shops and markets were indiscriminately bombed.

"There were troops busy killing us. People were blown to pieces. Their families could not find the bodies," Wajid said. "They targeted wedding parties from the air or by mortar from the ground. They had no mercy. They didn't spare our cattle, our chicken, or our children."

Following the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington D.C., the United States accused Afghanistan of harboring Osama Bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, and invaded the country in October 2001.

During the 20 years in Afghanistan, thousands of foreign troops, including more than 2,400 U.S. service members, lost their lives.

Countless Afghans were killed, thousands in Sangin. Abdul Ghani was already old when the U.S. forces arrived in town many years ago. "They killed six of my family and drove me out of my house. I had to leave everything, including the children, behind," he said.

Ghani, and many like him, need support just to get through his daily life, let alone rebuild the ruins of his home. "The Americans didn't come here to build the country, they came here to destroy it," he said. 

Photo taken on Feb. 27, 2022 shows a damaged building in Sangin district of Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The U.S.-led coalition forces may have run from Afghanistan last year, but the indiscriminate killing and widespread atrocities committed against the Afghan people during the occupation will haunt the victims and their families for years. (Photo by Arghand/Xinhua)

Photo taken on Feb. 27, 2022 shows a bazaar destroyed in U.S. air strikes in Sangin district of Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The U.S.-led coalition forces may have run from Afghanistan last year, but the indiscriminate killing and widespread atrocities committed against the Afghan people during the occupation will haunt the victims and their families for years. (Photo by Arghand/Xinhua)

Photo taken on Feb. 27, 2022 shows a road in Sangin district of Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The U.S.-led coalition forces may have run from Afghanistan last year, but the indiscriminate killing and widespread atrocities committed against the Afghan people during the occupation will haunt the victims and their families for years. (Photo by Arghand/Xinhua)

People leave a mosque in Sangin district of Helmand Province, Afghanistan, on Feb. 27, 2022. The U.S.-led coalition forces may have run from Afghanistan last year, but the indiscriminate killing and widespread atrocities committed against the Afghan people during the occupation will haunt the victims and their families for years. (Photo by Arghand/Xinhua)

Photo taken on Feb. 27, 2022 shows a bazaar destroyed in U.S. air strikes in Sangin district of Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The U.S.-led coalition forces may have run from Afghanistan last year, but the indiscriminate killing and widespread atrocities committed against the Afghan people during the occupation will haunt the victims and their families for years. (Photo by Arghand/Xinhua)