阿富汗收尸老人讓戰(zhàn)爭雙方的亡靈安息

Ferrying the Dead of Both Sides in a Cruel Afghan War

阿富汗收尸老人讓戰(zhàn)爭雙方的亡靈安息

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — On the brindled plains of southern Afghanistan, Malik Abdul Hakim is death’s ferryman.

阿富汗坎大哈——馬利克·阿卜杜勒·哈基姆(Malik Abdul Hakim)是阿富汗南部斑駁平原上的一名亡靈擺渡者。

He collects the bodies of soldiers and police officers killed in areas of Taliban dominance and takes them home. From government centers, he carries slain insurgents back to their families, negotiating roads laced with roadside bombs.

他把在塔利班(Taliban)控制區(qū)陣亡的軍人和警察的遺體收斂起來，帶他們返回故里。他也會小心翼翼地避開路邊的炸彈，把被殺的叛軍尸體從政府中心送回老家。

Mr. Hakim, a slender 66-year-old with a white beard that hangs to his chest, laughs when asked what drives him. He never envisioned he would have this life, crossing front lines for strangers. But he finds meaning in his work, delivering a measure of dignity to families scarred by war.

現年66歲的哈基姆身形消瘦，花白的大胡子垂到胸前。當被問及從事這份工作的動力時，他笑了。他未曾想到竟然會過上這樣的生活，為幫助陌生人而在前線穿梭。但他認為自己的工作是有意義的，可以讓遭受戰(zhàn)爭創(chuàng)傷的家庭擁有一份尊嚴。

Still, he prays that one day he will be out of a job.

不過，他一直企盼著有一天他會失業(yè)。

“Every time I see a body, I pray there will not be another,” he says in a soft and oddly youthful voice. “I will be thankful when there is peace and stability, and I no longer have work.”

“每當看到一具尸體，我都祈禱不要再看到另外一具了，”他說話的聲音很柔和，而且異常年輕。“如果真有天下太平、我也失業(yè)的那一天，我會感激不盡。”

Until then, he says, he will not be deterred. Not by the wretched smell of corpses, the physical demands of lifting the bodies or the psychological toll inflicted by a front-row seat to the atrocities of war. Not even by the death of his two sons at insurgents’ hands.

他說，在那之前，自己是不會退卻的。難聞的尸臭、搬運尸體所要付出的體力，以及因為近距離見證戰(zhàn)爭的殘酷而承受的心理壓力，都阻擋不了他。就連兩個兒子死于叛軍之手的慘痛遭遇也無法讓他止步。

“All these years, I have done this for God,” he says. “I call both sides my brothers because they are Afghans and Muslims. I don’t want favors or position. My only aim is to help those in need.”

“這些年來，我一直在為真主工作，”他說。“我認為兩邊的人都是我的兄弟，因為他們都是阿富汗人，都是穆斯林。我不想要什么好處或者地位。我唯一的目的就是幫助有需要的人。”

That a man can shoulder such a burden is a sad feature of the prolonged war in Afghanistan, which grows more deadly by the week. The Afghan security forces lost more men last year than in any previous year, as did the Taliban. Since he started seven years ago, Mr. Hakim has carried 713 bodies, including 313 in the past year alone.

他一個人所擔起的這副擔子，是曠日持久的阿富汗戰(zhàn)爭的悲哀寫照。每一周，這場戰(zhàn)爭的殺傷力都會變得更大。阿富汗安全部隊去年的陣亡人數比以往任何年份都多，塔利班方面也是如此。從業(yè)七年的哈基姆總共運送過713具尸體，其中僅去年就運送了313具。

Mr. Hakim’s work began by chance after the death of a famed Taliban commander in Zhare, his native district. The insurgents wanted the body of their leader returned, and neighbors suggested they ask Mr. Hakim, who was volunteering for the Afghan Red Crescent at the time.

哈基姆當初干上這份工作全憑偶然：一個著名的塔利班指揮官死在了哈基姆所在的扎里地區(qū)，叛軍想要拿回領導人的尸體，于是哈基姆的鄰居建議他們問問當時正給阿富汗紅新月會(Afghan Red Crescent)當志愿者的哈基姆。

Mr. Hakim decided to give it a try. He drove to the district center and made his entreaty. As he waited, the district police commander had a question of his own for Mr. Hakim: Why had he never offered to collect the government bodies?

哈基姆決定試一試。他驅車趕到區(qū)域中心，說明來意。他等待答復時，該地區(qū)的警長疑惑地問道：他怎么沒提供過收斂政府人員遺體的服務呢?

“I told them it never occurred to me to do any of this,” he said with a wry smile. “I wasn’t even sure I wanted to do this for the Taliban.”

“我告訴他們，以前從未想過做這樣的事情，”他苦笑著說道。“我甚至都不確定自己是否想為塔利班運送尸體。”

Eventually, the government agreed to release the body, but on the condition that the Taliban would do the same.

最終，政府方面同意交出那具尸體，條件是塔利班方面要懂得“禮尚往來”。

A few years ago, he began receiving assistance from the International Committee of the Red Cross. His area also expanded to include parts of Helmand, Zabul and Oruzgan provinces. One day last summer, he carted 28 Taliban bodies after an exceptionally brutal fight in Zhare.

幾年前，他開始接受紅十字國際委員會(International Committee of the Red Cross)的幫助。他的工作區(qū)域也得到了拓展，涵蓋了赫爾曼德省、查布爾省和烏魯茲甘省的部分地區(qū)。去年夏季的一天，在扎里地區(qū)的一場異常殘酷的戰(zhàn)斗結束后，他運走了28具塔利班成員的尸體。

Days like that worry him. Time has done nothing to bleed either side of its will. With foreign troops fully off the battlefield, the death toll is rising.

這樣的日子讓他憂心忡忡。戰(zhàn)爭雙方的意志并未隨著時間的流逝而減弱分毫。隨著外國軍隊全部撤離阿富汗戰(zhàn)場，死亡人數不斷上升。

“They have been at war for 13 years, and if they fight another 13 years they will not see peace,” he says. “They must sit down and speak with one another.”

“他們已經打了13年，再打上13年的話，他們也看不到和平，”他說。“他們必須坐下來互相溝通。”

Such advice has not come cheaply for Mr. Hakim. He has lost two sons and a son-in-law to the war.

哈基姆發(fā)出上述忠告并不輕松。戰(zhàn)爭奪走了他的兩個兒子和一個女婿的生命。

Five years ago, his son-in-law, Ismatullah, drove a water truck on a road construction crew. One morning, he brought two of Mr. Hakim’s sons with him to Khakrez, a district directly north of the city of Kandahar.

五年前，哈基姆的女婿伊斯馬圖拉(Ismatullah)在一個公路建筑隊里開灑水車。一天上午，他帶著哈基姆的兩個兒子一同前往位于坎大哈正北方的哈克拉茲地區(qū)。

The men never returned.

他們再也沒回來。

Mr. Hakim knew the area. Months earlier, he had delivered two Taliban bodies to a commander there. But the commander now refused to divulge anything, offering only that the fate of his family was in the hands of the Taliban court. Mr. Hakim waited four days, then left.

哈基姆了解這個地區(qū)。幾個月前，他曾把兩具塔利班成員的尸體送到那里的一個指揮官手中。可是，這名指揮官現在卻拒絕透露任何信息，僅表示他家人的命運掌握在塔利班法庭手中。哈基姆等待了四天，只能離開。

Distraught, Mr. Hakim drove to Quetta, Pakistan, to meet with a senior Taliban member to plead for information. He returned home with an official letter instructing another local commander to take him to his sons.

憂心忡忡的哈基姆驅車前往巴基斯坦的奎達與一名塔利班高級成員會面，請求他提供一些信息。哈基姆回去的時候，拿著一份要求另一名地方指揮官帶他去尋找兒子蹤跡的公函。

A few days later, he met the commander along a nondescript stretch of the highway in Khakrez. The man was leery. He asked Mr. Hakim’s driver whether the courier’s sons, Azizullah and Ruhullah, had been working for the government.

數天后，他在哈克拉茲公路的一個普通路段上與這名指揮官碰面。此人頗有戒心。他問哈基姆的司機，這名運尸者的兒子——阿齊祖拉(Azizullah)和魯胡拉(Ruhullah)——之前是否在為政府工作。

After an hour’s drive, the convoy pulled onto a desolate plain, where the Taliban conveyed one final insult before vanishing down the road.

開了一個小時的車后，車隊來到一個荒無人煙的平原地帶。塔利班在那里對他們進行了最后的羞辱，隨后消失在馬路盡頭。

“They told us to smell in the area and we would find the bodies,” Mr. Hakim recalled, weeping slightly.

“他們讓我們在那附近聞一聞，然后就能找到尸體了，”哈基姆輕輕哭泣著說。

After searching for an hour in the blistering heat, Mr. Hakim found his dead children buried in a shallow grave. He dug for two hours with his hands.

在酷熱的天氣中搜尋了一個小時之后，哈基姆找到了已經死去的孩子——他們被埋在一個淺墳里。他徒手挖了兩個小時。