Afghanistan: "I get calls from strangers trying to find out where I am"

Taliban fighters buy Taliban flags in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, August 30, 2021. AP - Khwaja Tawfiq Sediqi

Text by: Carlotta Morteo Follow

4 min

To keep him safe, we'll call him Doctor Mohammed.

Doctor, trainer and care coordinator, he worked for 25 years for various French and European NGOs, all over Afghanistan.

Today, he feels watched and worried about the future of his children. 

Advertising

Read more

RFI: What happened to you when the Taliban took power?

Doctor Mohammed

:

When our province fell into the hands of the Taliban, my son told me that men had come to our house to check if I was at home. With my family, we decided to flee to Kabul. We were very scared. Finally, the capital fell too. Now we feel trapped. The Taliban know that I have worked exclusively for foreigners. I regularly receive calls from strangers who want to know where I am, who ask me for a passport photo ... They are very suspicious and I feel like I am living with a sword of Damocles overhead. the head.

You have to pay attention to everything you say, to everything you do. I had a bad time the other day as I was talking to someone in the street about the "

 suicide bombings 

" that had taken place at the airport. Armed men heard us and berated us because we should have used the word "martyrs". On the one hand, they encourage people to stay in the country, on the other hand, they harass people. There are so many checkpoints in Kabul now. The Taliban look in the cars, check who you are with, 

women

cannot travel alone ... I have the feeling that a cage is closing in on us.

Are your female colleagues who work in the health sector allowed to work

?

Yes, doctors and nurses can work with the burka.

In other areas, no.

They stay at home.

And in private universities, there are separate classes for female students as well as differentiated entrances and exits for men and women.

For now, I have the impression that they are not yet too repressive, but it is starting.

I am 60 years old, I have Afghan history in my skin.

I have already known this dark period when the Taliban were in power between 1996 and 2001. But my children who are between 10 and 26 years old are in shock.

They have lived their entire lives in a liberal democracy, with elections, freedoms, prospects.

They don't understand what's going on, it's going very fast.

As if suddenly, we were stepping back 200 years.

► See also: 

In Afghanistan, facing the Taliban, women demonstrate to defend their rights

The media are also changing.

We hear almost exclusively the words of the Taliban.

We have seen some images on television of the demonstrations of women that have taken place in recent days, but this is told from the point of view of the authorities.

Everything is oriented.

The Afghan economy was already fragile, but the value of the currency has fallen sharply since the arrival of the Taliban. Do you feel this economic slowdown on a daily basis

?

Yes, it all fell apart. Even today, I wanted to withdraw the 200 dollars to which we are entitled each week from the bank, but the bank was closed. She probably ran out of cash. There are a lot of stores that are half closed because import-export with neighboring countries has slowed down considerably. I went to a restaurant for lunch, it was practically empty. The boss told me he was losing nearly 10,000 afghanis a day because he didn't have enough customers. He fears that he will not be able to pay his rent and his employees. Personally, I rent apartments so I don't worry too much financially. People still have savings aside. So for now, we're holding on. But I guarantee you that if it continues like this, in three months,many people will go hungry.

I do not see how the mullahs, who are religious, will be able to restore the country.

Do they have any competence in terms of economic recovery?

In health management?

In international relations?

For the first time in my life, despite 45 years in war, I would like to leave Afghanistan so that my children have a good education and a future.

►

Also to listen: Afghanistan: the Taliban government is "a kind of curiosity about international law" [International guest]

Newsletter

Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

• Afghanistan

• Taliban

• our selection