KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Mohammed Jan Sultani had clutched his national Taekwondo championship certificates as he waded through the multitudes pushing to get…
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Mohammed Jan Sultani had clutched his national Taekwondo championship certificates as he waded through the multitudes pushing to get into Kabul airport late last week. The 25-year-old athlete wasn’t on any evacuation lists. Yet he had hoped his achievements would make him and his young family special enough to be let into the gate and onto one of the flights rescuing foreigners and Afghans fleeing the Taliban. As he forged ahead, an Islamic State suicide bomber detonated two dozen pounds of explosives in the crowd just before nightfall Thursday, killing 169 Afghans, including Sultani, and 13 U.S. service members. His wife and two children,4-year-old Zahid and 2-year-old Zahra, survived; he had told them to stay back a bit as he advanced toward the gate. Three days later, Zahid remains in shock. He cries, but doesn’t speak. The athlete’s father, Ali, said his son had expected a bleak future under the Taliban. “He didn’t know where he would go,” the bereaved man, who goes by the last name Rahmani, said Sunday. “The United States, Europe, it didn’t matter,” Rahmani said, holding some of his son’s medals, his voice laced with sadness. “Everyone in the country seemed to be escaping,” he said. Najma Sadeqi was also among those trying to get out that afternoon.
