Shy Youth’s Action Mystifies Family, Friends

A family friend called him a sweet, shy kid from Marin County. But somehow John Phillip Walker Lindh became a Taliban fighter.

Just how that happened remained a mystery of profound proportions Sunday to family and friends. Lindh, 20, was among the Taliban prisoners who surrendered over the weekend to Northern Alliance forces.

The youth spent his formative years attending high school near the family’s San Anselmo home, a leafy and wealthy suburb across the bay from San Francisco.

He came to be Abdul Hamid after his switch at 16 to Islam, a move made with the grudging acceptance of his parents. They supported the conversion out of love and a belief that their son needed to chart his own course, said Bill Jones, a family friend.

“It isn’t what they would have chosen for him,” Jones said. “They sort of shrugged it off. It was an attitude of: This is strange, but we’ll support it. They thought it was good he was into spirituality and helping people.”

Lindh moved to Pakistan to study Islam about two years ago, Jones said. But there was no indication that he had joined the cause of the Taliban, let alone had taken up arms.

Though he had kept in fairly regular touch with his family, Lindh suddenly dropped from sight earlier this year, Jones said.

“This had been a terrifying time for his family,” Jones said. “They hadn’t heard from him in six months.”

Neither his father, Frank Lindh, an attorney, nor his mother, Marilyn Walker, could be reached for comment.

Jones said he had discussed the situation with both parents, who came to his house on Sunday to watch coverage on CNN and MSNBC. Searching for explanations, the parents can only reason that their son has been brainwashed, coerced into joining the fight, Jones said.

“We feel it was almost like a Patty Hearst thing,” Jones said.

The parents, who are separated, both thought that their son looked drugged, Jones said.

“They’re crying their eyes out,” he said. “They’re just so relieved their son is alive. It’s a horrible situation. But they’re glad he is alive.”