These days western news stories contain such headlines about Afghanistan as “Suicide Attack Kills 9” or “NATO To Increase Troop Strength”, but they could report on such daily events as Afghan children playing with toys.

One summer afternoon at work, I listened to a young Afghan man – born in 1984 – tell me about how he feels when he sees children today playing with real toys on the streets of Kabul.

“For example, when I was a boy growing up here in Kabul [during the Mujaheddin Civil War of the early to mid 1990’s], we would play with bullets…”

“We would use them in the place of marbles because we didn’t have any marbles of our own. I recall that we would gather around a circle and when it was your turn, you would try to hit the bullets that were standing up just as you would a marble.

“You could find spent bullet shells of various types and sizes all over the place and these would be collected and traded with other children on the block.

“We would also play a game called ‘Commander’. The children on my block would hide and try to hit each other with rocks until only one boy was victorious. He would be called the ‘Commander’. I can recall now that I got hit by a rock on my forehead and a small amount of blood began to trickle down."

His voice trailed off so I asked him, “When you see children in Kabul playing with real toys, it makes you sad?” He said, “No, I feel happy.”

Signs of hope do exist here. I imagine that other Afghans feel the same. They recall another, darker time not so long ago. One day the new generation of children will read about those days and be grateful that children can play with toys.