Research Studies Available
Depression Schizophrenia Migraine Alzheimers
Child and Adolescent Depression
Bipolar
Memory Impairment
Low Back Pain Diabetes Anemia
wire wrapped around his right arm from top to just above the wrist. The tattoo, which sym- bolized that he was “an Army gangster, a sol- dier fighting the Tali- ban,” was problematic when he began court- ing Tamana, who is also called Tammy. Her mother did not like it. Short and muscu-
lar, Haidari — nick- named Mike by Army troops — grew up a child of war. Sher, his first name, is fitting for the life he has led; it means tiger or lion. His dark eyes do not exhibit emotion, which reflects his natural stoicism. He has a tendency to stare away from the person to whom he is talking. He became a soldier at 17, when he went to work for the Army, and was earning $750
His family went
Dave Sossaman and Sher Mohammad Haidari in Afghanistan
a month when he left Afghanistan. Haid- ari said he could have earned almost twice more working for the British but his father, a former major in the
Afghan army, forbid it. “The British were
never our friend. They invaded us twice. My father said no, even if they paid me $3000 a month,” said Haidari.
R E S E A R C H S T U D I E S
into exile in Pakistan when the Taliban took over the country. They returned to Kabul in 2001, when U.S. Special Forces teams slipped into Afghanistan to join local fighters in the hunt for Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. Haid- ari was ten and remem- bers his family — par- ents and 11 brothers and sisters — packed in a 40-foot truck with all their belongings. It was one of hundreds of vehicles winding slowly on mountain roads in a convoy that stretched for miles. The trip home took two gruel- ing days under the cam- eras of U.S. drones fly- ing overhead. In 2010, two years
after he began working for the Army, a terrorist wearing a suicide vest blew himself up inside Combat Outpost (COP) Chergotah in Khost Province, killing and wounding several sol- diers, including some Americans. Haidari, who was at the base, joined an Army unit that went looking for Taliban insurgents who were tied to the bomb- ing. It was a routine operation by Afghani- stan standards, but it put Haidari’s name on a Taliban hit list and led to 20 death threats over the years. “We went to each
RESEARCH CENTERS SYNERGY
Compensation and transportation is available for those who qualify. Health Insurance not needed.
(619) 430-4871
synergyresearchcenters.com
house, and I told the man at each house, this is my telephone number if you see Taliban. We have helicopters above. We have drones. Call me and we’ll come and we’ll kill them,” said Haidari. A short time later,
Haidari said he was on a mission with U.S. troops when his cell phone rang. It was a local Tali- ban commander calling. “He said, ‘Either
18 San Diego Reader December 15, 2016
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84