Young Marine in Afghanistan campaign finally sees native land of his family

By DOUG MELLGREN
Associated Press Writer

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – Hamed J. Aziz was born and raised in America, but home was always a distant place that he had never seen – until he landed in Afghanistan with the U.S. Marines.

Aziz's parents, who are from Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, left the Central Asian country in late 1978, the year before the Soviets invaded. He long dreamed of visiting the place they spoke of constantly, and where his older brother was born.

His homecoming "was kind of a shock," the 21-year-old corporal said Sunday while walking guard duty at Kandahar International Airport, which he helped seize two days earlier when the Marines began moving most of their operations from Camp Rhino in the southern desert.

Although the Marines traveled through Kandahar, the Taliban's spiritual capital, at night, he saw children and adults waving in welcome surrounded by the squalid poverty brought by decades of war.

"It really hit me when we were driving through the town," seeing shoeless children staring back at him, he said. "It could have been me."

Thinking of children in the United States who complain when they can't have the latest toy, he reached into his backpack, grabbed a few pairs of extra socks and tossed them to the crowd. He also passed out food and water.

Aziz, an anti-tank missile operator, also serves as an interpreter for the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit. Afghans were surprised and delighted to learn the man in the U.S. uniform could communicate with them.

He learned fluent Farsi, the language spoken in Kabul and some parts of Afghanistan, while growing up with his now-separated parents in Roswell, Ga. Though most people in Kandahar speak Pashto, there are enough similarities to allow conversation.

"They are really happy," Aziz said.

After watching his success, comrades began asking for language lessons, he said.

A devout Muslim, Aziz prays five times a day. He has a prayer rug, but most often he winds up kneeling on his flak jacket.

Aziz has no sympathy for the Taliban and the restrictive regime it imposed.

"Islam promotes peace," he said. "I think those tyrants (the Taliban) are wrong. There was no reason for them to come in and run the country like that."

He hopes to return one day as a civilian, perhaps as an aid or development worker, "so I can do something to change things."

His parents didn't know he was going to Afghanistan because he wasn't allowed to tell them for security reasons.

"Sa-lam, Mamee o Baba," he said later in a message home. "Hi, Mom and Dad."

AP-WS-12-16-01 1321EST