US troops celebrate Easter in Afghanistan
 

US troops celebrate Easter in Afghanistan
By: PHILLIP WALTER WELLMAN | STARS AND STRIPES - April 21, 2019
RE: https://www.stripes.com/news/us-troo...istan-1.577840

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Forward Support Base Chaplain Maj. Kathy Scott delivers an Easter sermon at NATO's Resolute Support headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday, April 21, 2019.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Servicemembers and contractors from the United States and other coalition countries celebrated Easter at NATO’s Resolute Support headquarters in the Afghan capital on Sunday.

Several church services were held to mark the day Christians believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

Two Protestant services were held in the morning - including one at sunrise, during which a fire was lit to symbolize renewal.

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The Bible and cross are displayed at an Easter service at NATO's Resolute Support headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday, April 21, 2019.
PHILLIP WALTER WELLMAN/STARS AND STRIPES

“For Christians, Easter is important because it celebrates new life," said Forward Support Base Chaplain Maj. Kathy Scott, who led the later service. “We celebrate the resurrected Lord Jesus, but we also celebrate the new life in us that can take place, new attitudes, new behaviors, new ways of thinking.

“To me that’s what’s important, to give people hope as they work here, which can seem very, very dark.”

Father Giovanni Scaleses, chaplain at the Italian Embassy in Kabul, visited the base to lead a Catholic mass. He distributed communion to those in attendance, which included several nuns doing charity work in the country.

NATO’s Kabul headquarters houses servicemembers from most of the roughly 40 countries that make up the coalition, which is tasked with training and advising Afghan security forces.

To contact: wellman.phillip@stripes.com