Read Online When Elephants Fight by Eric Walters - Free Book Online Page A

they forgot everything else—all those things that were happening out beyond their home.
    They kneeled down in the dirt beside the circle and took turns. His cousin was good, but Farooq was better. More than half the time he hit one of the little marbles and most of the time it skittered out of the circle.
    Suddenly the quiet was broken. There was a loud sound—like an engine—and Farooq looked up. Just over their heads streaked a silver shape, a rocket! There was a loud
shooosh
ing sound as it passed over, and then a tremendous explosion!
    Farooq jumped to his feet and started to run before he heard the screaming. He stopped and turned back around. His cousin was cut, blood pouring from his face, and his sister was lying in the dirt, facedown, blood coming from her back!
    His mother and father ran over, screaming, and scooped the children up and carried all three down to the basement. Quickly his parents looked at the injuries. Both children had been hit by debris thrown up in the air when the rocket had landed— maybe it was bits of rock or concrete. There was blood—coming from the nose of his cousin, and from a small wound on his sister’s back—but the injuries were minor. It took longer to calm down his sister than it did to clean out the wound. She’d be fine. They’d all be fine...for now.
Follow-up: Farooq
    Farooq, his mother, father and sister left their home. They walked for two days in the cold and rain, narrowly avoiding death, with only the possessions they could carry, to travel out of Kabul and to the home of a relative. Over 25,000 people, mainly civilians, were killed, and one-third of the city was completely destroyed.
    Subsequently the family immigrated to India in 1996, and then to Canada in 1998, where his youngest sister, Rabia, was born. Farooq has recently graduated from high school and is taking further courses to prepare him to pursue a career in either business or law enforcement. He is proud of both his Afghani heritage and his Canadian future.

History
    Afghanistan has been home to human settlement for over 50,000 years and was one of the first documented places where farming took place. It is at the crossroads of Asia and has been referred to as the gateway between Asia and Europe. It has been continually exposed to travelers, traders, invaders and conquerors. It was conquered by Darius of Babylon in 500 BC, Alexander the Great in 329 BC, Islamic conquerors in the 7th century, Muhmujd of Ghazni in the 11th century, Genghis Khan in the 13th century, various Arab and Persian dynasties (including Tamerlane from Persia), the British Empire in the 1800s and the Soviet Union from 1979–1989. Throughout these recurrent invasions, the Afghan people have repeatedly demonstrated a fierce sense of independence, which has made it almost impossible to effectively control and govern them. In all cases they have eventually expelled all invaders and conquerors.
    This same quality of independence has made it very difficult for Afghans to govern themselves. The country we now recognize as Afghanistan has only existed in its present boundaries for the last part of its lengthy history. When not under the domination of outside powers, it has mostly existed as a number of independent or semi-independent countries, states, kingdoms, tribes or clan groups, which have either peacefully coexisted or actively battled each other.
    In 1746 the Pashtun tribes were united into one group. They ultimately conquered and created a greater Afghanistan that was composed of all of the present-day Afghanistan, Pakistan, two provinces in Iran and parts of India. This greater Afghanistan came into conflict with the British Empire, the greatest power of its day and the largest empire ever amassed.
    There were repeated conflicts between the two groups (1838–42, 1878–80, 1919–21). The British found that, while they could have initial success in these wars, the Afghans were not easily