Pasoon's Toy Airplane

The plastic toy airplane that Pasoon so treasures represents the innocence of his childhood lost to his commitment to the Taliban cause. He is, after all, only 11. With the toy plane, Pasoon innocently, happily played at war in the fields around his village, diving and swooping the plane, chasing down butterflies and taunting birds in the fields outside of the village. Given that he has never not known his country at war, playing war was inevitable. When Pasoon abruptly leaves his family after they take in the wounded soldier and heads to the hills to tell the Taliban, Reshmina attempts to coax him to stay by teasing him with the toy plane she steals from his backpack. Reshmina is stunned when Pasoon decides she can keep his plane. He tells her that toys are for children. Pasoon’s decision represents how war has compelled...