Chandra Bahadur Rana Magar had quit police service after witnessing eight of his friends killed in a battle with the Maoist rebels in 2003. The job he took up next was a lot similar to the one that he had left behind. He joined a private security firm—policing after all was what he knew best.

The horror of war was what had led Chandra Bahadur to quit the police job at the height of Maoist insurgency in the country. But little did he know then, that his new job as a security guard would land him in a far more vulnerable place—the war-torn Afghanistan.

Chandra Bahadur became one of the casualties, in Monday’s suicide attack carried out by a Taliban terrorist in Kabul, along with 11 other Nepalis and two Indians—all employed on security duty at the Canadian Embassy.

The 44-year-old father of five had returned to Afghanistan on June 29 after spending a month-long holiday with his family.

Before leaving, Chandra Bahadur had promised his family to come back after 18 months, said his brother Ganga.  “He had told us that this will be his last trip to Afghanistan and no more security job there after that,” he said. 

Chandra Bahadur, who hails from Kavre district, had bought a one-storey house in Kathmandu for his family. He had taken a loan of Rs 3 million to buy the house.

Part of the reason that Chandra Bahadur continued to work in Afghanistan despite the dangers there, Ganga said, was to repay the house loan.  

“He had told me that he had no wish to work overseas once he had cleared the loan,” said Ganga. Chandra Bahadur is survived by two wives and their five children.

All victims were ex-servicemen

Eleven other victims of Kabul attack also come from police and military backgrounds. And just like Chandra Bahadur they had chose the job in Afghanistan with the dream of earning enough money to support their families back home.

Their death has devastated the lives of their closed ones.

Three of the victims— Lila Bahadur Gurung, Madhusudhan Koirala, and Dambar Bahadur Tamang— were from Nuwakot district.

Lila Bahadur was a 55-year-old former Nepal Army (NA) soldier from Kingtang village.

Madhusudhan, 44, and Dambar Bahadur, 46, had previously worked for Nepal Army and Nepal Police before joining the job of security guards.

Two of the victims—Nabin Singh Chhetri and Bidur Bahadur Subedi— were from Parbat district.

Nabin Singh had retired  as an inspector of the Armed Police Force following an injury during the Maoist insurgency. He had undergone two years of recovery at home before going to Afghanistan.

“While he was recovering from his injuries, he had started a garment shop which he left to the care of his wife before leaving for Afghanistan,” said Danda Bahadur, Nabin Singh’s brother. “The family had been facing financial hardship, largely because of his condition caused by the war.”

Friends of Bidur Bahadur remember him as a protective father and a benevolent human.

“He had decided to go work in Afghanistan because he felt that his military pension alone was not sufficient to take care of his family,” said his childhood friend Hari Narayan Subedi.

Jitendra Thapa, 43, of Rupandehi, had served in the Indian Army for 18 years before going abroad to work as a security guard. He had worked in Iraq for one year before leaving for Afghanistan on the advise of his friends. He is survived by two wives and a five-month-old baby, the District Police Office in Rupandehi said.

Amrit Bahadur Thapa, of Archalbot village in Lamjung, was a Nepal Police pensioner. He had worked in Malaysia for a few years before leaving for Afghanistan, where he had been working for the last four years. His widow Durga said he had come for holidays and returned only two weeks ago.

Ankur Tamang, 31, of Sunsari, had been working in Afghanistan for the past five years. Before that, he was a solider in the NA.

Krishna Bahadur Dhungana, of Chitwan, was also a former NA soldier who left the service during the Maoist insurgency. His uncle Himnath Neupane said he had gone to work in Afghanistan to support his family.