My rational mind has seized control of my emotions – shutting down my heart, restricting the flow of adrenaline. I am focused on what I know:

• He has been taken
• He is Pashtu and conservative, so if the Taliban have taken him, he will likely be fine.
• There is NOTHING I can do.

So hard is my mind that my heart doesn’t dare make a play for dominance. This is how it always is when something big happens. My emotional world slows down to crawl, I can only entertain facts, and next steps are clear, even obvious as though highlighted in neon lights.

I try to access more emotion, but I know I have to wait. My mind will not let go until it knows the worst is past. Until it has weighed every possible reaction against it’s potential outcome – only then will my heart begin to race and tears sting my eyes.

He is taken

He drove out on a routine trip to a nearby project site. Our Engineer was with him and two 3rd-party-monitors followed later in another car. The Engineer got out at the site. He was away from the cars when he heard the gunfire and hid in a local community member’s home. Our driver went looking for the other car when the shots were fired and when he arrived, was taken, along with the others.

Timeline / Resolution

• 12:30 – Driver and two 3-party monitors are kidnapped
• 13:20 – I first hear of the incident and our team is meeting with local government officials to request their assistance.
• 13:28 – I discovered I know the driver and engineer
• 16:15 – News reaches us that the driver and one monitor have escaped, the bad news is that the second monitor is our driver’s brother.
• 16:45 – The brother is released
• 17:00 – News reaches us that the 3-party monitors were driving a high-profile car (Surf) that was shot 61 times.

* Times based on when news reaches me in Kabul.

Resolution

It appears that communications broke down. The 3-party monitors did not notify the program that they were visiting our project, nor did they communicate with our security regarding any special arrangements we might have made with the community. Fortunately, no one was injured and parties were released within a matter of hours.

The only loss were the two vehicles. We were informed that ours was taken outside the town and set on fire. The community is signing a letter to confirm. There will be no other proof.