Young Afghan struggles to adapt after Guantanamo
At family gatherings, the young Afghan with the scraggly beard instinctively sits with the children, before others remind him that he is a man now.
Old friends he last saw when they were flying kites are now in college, married with children, enjoying their careers. He’s happy for them, but he feels like he’s watching life flash by and he’s not a part of it.
These are the shadows of the lost youth of Mohammed Jawad, the Afghan who many believe was Guantanamo’s youngest prisoner.
“There are such huge changes I need to catch up with,” he says. “I’ve missed a lot.”
Six inches taller and 40 pounds heavier than when he left his country nearly seven years ago, Jawad alternately smiles shyly, tenses with anger, then smiles again, the mood swings of someone trying to figure out how he lost a third of his life. [continued…]
