Out of The Darkness... An Emotional Journey

With the dark veil of extremism descending on Afghanistan to cast its shadow on the blood-stained streets of Kabul and Kandahar, history spoke in ghostly echoes to remind us of its repetitive nature. The world watched as the “Graveyard of Empires’’ officially claimed its latest casualty and NATO grudgingly added its signature to a regrettable registry that includes the Persians, the Macedonians, the Huns, the Arab Caliphates, the Mongols, the Tamarids, the Mughals, the British, and the Soviets. All sought to impose their visions of order on the Afghans, and met with similarly unsuccessful fates.

Amir Sidiqi (left) and Kevin Haney.

But Kevin Haney had no time to revisit the past or hear its echoes. The Strath Haven High School English teacher was anxiously watching his Facebook feed and listening for the ring of his cell phone, waiting for any news of his Afghan American friend and former student Amir Sidiqi. Hours before, he had contacted Amir, who was desperately trying to find a way to get out of Afghanistan with his wife and infant daughter. Haney had a lifeline ready. Through social media, he was able to put Sidiqi in touch with a boyhood buddy from his old neighborhood in Southwest Philly, who happened to be stationed in Kabul with the U.S. State Department. 

Now there was nothing left to do but wait...and pray.

From the day Kevin first saw Amir sitting in his Strath Haven High School English class, he recognized a strength and sense of purpose he had never seen in his American students. He also saw the fear and fragility that comes with being an outsider in the potentially hostile context of teenage high school social dynamics, so he took Amir under his wing and made a friend for life.

Now it was the life of his friend that hung in the balance, and it was the *not knowing* that pulled like a stone weight on his soul as he listened and watched for any news from Kabul.

Kevin had good reason to be worried. Amir, who had witnessed unspeakable acts of cruelty and death in the previous 48 hours, was quickly running out of options. He and his family had been turned away at the Kabul airport security checkpoints on several occasions that week.  Now, the airport was under sporadic gunfire, and there were fewer and fewer flights leaving. He made a last desperate call to the number at the state department.

Days went by before Kevin heard the knock on the door and his son asking about the stranger standing on the porch. When he opened it to see Amir standing there with the familiar boyish smile on his face, surprise and elation quickly melted into tears of joy, hugs, and warm memories of less hostile times. Amir told his harrowing tale as lucidly as possible, given the fragile poignancy of their unplanned reunion...How he and his family had finally cleared the checkpoint and boarded one of the last flights to safety...and how he vowed to return to his native country as soon as circumstances permitted.

For Kevin’s part, he recounts how the gamut of emotions over the course of that fateful week took him on a journey that was as long and arduous as the one taken by his friend...a journey that has changed him forever and rekindled his belief that there can always be goodness in a world that is sometimes cruel and evil.