What Lies Beneath

When the Taliban were done dynamiting the two colossal stone Buddhas of Bamiyan in central Afghanistan, they partied hard. They danced, hooted and slaughtered a cow. But Syed Mirza Hussain wasn't celebrating. A Hazara Afghan with Mongolian features and a rusty beard, Hussain had been forced by the Taliban to pack explosives around the statues. The Taliban warned that if he refused, he would be shot. It was a threat that Hussain, a Shi'ite Muslim hated by the Sunni Taliban, took seriously. Earlier, a Taliban fighter had gunned down Hussain's two boys like stray dogs crossing a field, and gloated, "Anyone...