Afghanistan is on the other side of our world, in more ways than just geography. There was such a terribly tragic event there a few days ago that it surely shocked many of us.
Ten unarmed doctors, nurses and aides who were members of a Christian medical team – six Americans, one German, one Briton and two Afghans – hiked for 10 hours over rugged Afghan terrain on a humanitarian mission to deliver medical care to a few people in an isolated village.
But the 10 were gunned down by members of the Taliban, who alleged the 10 volunteers were “spying” and trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.
The Afghan man who drove the victims part of the way reportedly was spared by the killers because he recited verses from the Islamic holy book, the Quran, as he begged for his life.
The 10 bullet-riddled bodies, three of them women, were found off the main road on which they had traveled. One of the Americans, Tom Little, had spent 30 years in Afghanistan, rearing three daughters there.