Texas Afghans Concerned About Bin Laden Backlash
ALLEN (CBSDFW.COM) – Zarmina Anwary spends her days trying to stay busy with her two young sons.
That is, at least busy enough to occupy her mind until she gets a much-anticipated call from her husband Nico.
"As soon as I get that call I'm good until the next day," the 37-year-old said. "Today I already got that call and so I'm relieved a little."
Nico, 46, is in Afghanistan serving alongside the Army as a civilian for the Department of Defense.
"He travels with the troops. He translates with them," Anwary said.
She said she remembers talking about him going overseas.
"We talked about how the US troops are there risking their lives to help the Afghan people and we need to be out there helping also," she said.
The mother of two and her husband are originally from Afghanistan. Anwary's family escaped after the Russian invasion in 1980 when she was just 7-years-old.
"It was basically 3 to 4 days of walking to the border of Pakistan," said Anwary. "It was hard and it was scary."
She doesn't even have any pictures of back home and often longs to go back. There are a growing number of Afghan American families in North Texas.
Dozens of them have loved ones across the country at different posts fighting the war on terrorism alongside the military.
Their families fear the backlash after bin Laden's death.
Fear of retaliation is what worries Zarmina, but that doesn't diminish the hope for a future for her and her family and for her former country.
"His death is a victory. It's a celebration. It is new step I think," she said.
She said bin Laden put Afghanistan on the map, but now she says it's up the Afghans who escaped to secure its future so people like her can return.
That includes the laughter and memories made long before the terror suspect made the country his personal playground.
