{{short description|Afghan child soldier}} {{lead too short|date=January 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}} {{infobox person | name = Wasil Ahmad <br><small> واصل احمد</small> | image = | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{circa|2005}} | birth_place = Urozgan Province, Afghanistan | death_date = {{Death date and given age|2016|02||11|df=y}} | death_place = Kandahar, Afghanistan | employer = Afghan Government | other_names = | known_for = | occupation = }} '''Wasil Ahmad''' ({{circa|2005}} – February 2016) was an Afghan child soldier, best known for commanding a police unit and his subsequent killing by the Taliban when he was eleven years old.<ref name="auto">{{cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/04/asia/afghanistan-boy-hero-taliban-killed/index.html|title=11-year-old Afghan boy, hailed as hero for fighting Taliban, killed by militants|date=5 February 2016|first=Masoud |last=Popalzai|publisher=CNN|accessdate=5 June 2023}}</ref> His uncle Samad, trained him "in the use of AK-47 and PK machine guns, rockets and mortars as well as satellite phones and VHF radios."<ref name="auto"/> He took command of his uncle Samad's police unit, after Samad was injured in 2015. He was murdered on February 1, 2016, by two masked gunmen.
==Upbringing== Wasil Ahmad was born in Uruzgan province. The region has been described as "long... a centre of conflict;" Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was born there, and the later president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, led the first Pashtun revolt against the Taliban there in 2001.<ref name="independent.co.uk">{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/wasil-ahmad-taliban-assassinate-afghanistans-10-year-old-hero-of-uruzgan-siege-a6851536.html|title=Assassinated: The little boy who became a hero of Afghanistan's resistance against Taliban|date=3 February 2016}}</ref> Ahmad's father had previously been killed fighting the Taliban, and his son later said that seeking revenge for his father's death was his main motivation in going to war.<ref name="auto"/><ref name="nbcnews.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/wasil-ahmad-12-year-old-hero-uruzgan-siege-gunned-down-n510351|title=Siege 'Hero,' 12, Gunned Down by Taliban|website=NBC News |date=3 February 2016 }}</ref> Ahmad's uncle was the Afghan Local Police commander in Khas Uruzgan District, Uruzgan province. He had previously been a Taliban commander, but had changed sides in 2012, and was now fighting for the Afghan government.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/12138422/Afghan-boy-who-was-declared-a-hero-for-fighting-the-Taliban-gunned-down-on-his-way-to-school.html|title=Afghan boy who was declared a hero for fighting the Taliban gunned down on his way to school|date=3 February 2016 }}</ref> In summer 2015, Khas Uruzgan- his area of control- was besieged by the Taliban, and Samad was injured. Ahmad subsequently took command of his uncle's unit.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://time.com/4205401/taliban-afghanistan-wasil-ahmad/|title=Taliban Kills 10-Year-Old Soldier Hailed as War Hero|first=Melissa|last=Chan}}</ref>
==Siege== thumb|Oruzgan districts At the height of the Dan Sango<ref name="nbcnews.com"/> siege, Ahmad was commanding 75 pro-government soldiers against an attacking force of approximately "hundreds" of Taliban.<ref name="auto"/> The siege itself lasted for 71 days, and Ahmad commanded his squad for 43 of them.<ref name="auto"/> He fired both mortars and rockets as well as machine guns from the compound roof.<ref name="independent.co.uk"/> As well as physical fighting, Ahmad was also responsible for communications with the outside world, and the point of contact for the Afghan special forces.<ref name="nbcnews.com"/> When the latter raised the siege in August 2015,<ref name="nbcnews.com"/> Ahmad and 35 surviving soldiers were airlifted out by Afghan and NATO helicopters<ref name="nytimes.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/03/world/asia/afghanistan-taliban-child-soldiers.html|title=Taliban Gun Down 10-Year-Old Militia Hero in Afghanistan|date=3 February 2016|work=The New York Times}}</ref> to Tarin Kowt.<ref name="auto"/> According to Samad, the authorities "praised him and his nephew Wasil as heroes."<ref name="auto"/>
==Murder== Following the siege, Ahmad enrolled into school in the fourth-grade,<ref name="nytimes.com"/> whilst also receiving private tuition at home.<ref name="auto"/> He improved his English, although was not "a good student" – possibly, a neighbor later commented, because he had been "highly encouraged by police officials and awarded medals for his bravery" and only "wanted to play with weapons and drive police vehicles as a hobby."<ref name="nytimes.com"/> He was authorized to carry a pistol to school.<ref name="nbcnews.com"/> On Monday, 1 February 2016, at the local bazaar,<ref name="independent.co.uk"/> on his way to school,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/02/04/10-year-old-hero-who-fought-against-taliban-assassinated-on-his-way-to-school/|title=10-year-old 'hero' who fought against Taliban assassinated on his way to school|newspaper=The Washington Post }}</ref> he was shot twice<ref name="independent.co.uk"/> in the head by masked gunmen on a motorbike drive-by shooting, in what has been called a "targeted assassination".<ref name="nbcnews.com"/> He later died in a Kandahar hospital<ref name="auto"/> and was buried in the local Shahidano cemetery.<ref name="nytimes.com"/>
==Controversy== Following Ahmad's death, there was controversy as to his precise position in the besieged force. Samad stressed that Ahmad was merely "defending his family,"<ref name="auto"/> whilst Samad recovered from injuries he had already received.<ref name="auto1">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/03/wasil-ahmad-the-10-year-old-hero-murdered-by-the-taliban|title=Wasil Ahmad: the 10-year-old 'hero' murdered by the Taliban|first=Emma|last=Graham-Harrison|date=3 February 2016|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, however, said that, since he had been supplied with a gun and a police uniform, this was in breach of anti-child-soldiering laws.<ref name="auto"/> The commission also suggested that the police had themselves endangered Ahmad's life by lauding him as a hero. They had garlanded him 'with plastic flowers'<ref name="independent.co.uk"/> and even held a program at Police headquarters "where his bravery and courage were talked about by officials."<ref name="auto1"/> The government Ministry of Interior Affairs also denied that child soldiers were used by government forces. Conversely, the charity Child Soldiers International has also claimed that both sides used them.<ref name="independent.co.uk"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahmad, Wasil}} Category:Year of birth uncertain Category:2000s births Category:2016 deaths Category:People from Urozgan Province Category:Afghan children Category:Amateur radio people Category:Child soldiers Category:Children killed in wars Category:People killed by the Taliban