Afghans talk about their lives between the past and the present
5 Afghan experiences reflect the reality in a war-torn country
Ghulam Maarouf Rashid.
From the source
Volunteer worker "Khatra".
From the source
Sher Agha net.
From the source
Abdul Basir Fersrat.
From the source
The life of Samira Kherkhwa.
From the source
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By the time Ghulam Maarouf Rashid turned 50, he had spent more than a third of his life fighting with the Taliban.
He believed that they would eventually win the war, but he had no idea that this year would be decisive.
"We once thought that maybe the day would come when we wouldn't hear the sound of an airplane," Ghulam said. "We have been very tired for the past 20 years."
In the last year of the war, the Taliban's blitzkrieg, the collapse of the US-backed Afghan government, and the withdrawal of the last US forces led to a profound transformation, as did the US invasion in 2001.
Now, ex-combatants like Ghulam grapple with new governance, a generation of women struggle to keep a small space in public life, and Afghans across the country wonder what will happen next.
And Ghulam's story is only one in the scene of the experiences that the Afghans lived through during the years of war that began on October 7, 2001, when the dark image of American bombers flooded the sky of Afghanistan.
The New York Times spoke to five Afghans about the sudden end of the US war in Afghanistan, and the uncertainty that awaits them:
"The Rebel"... Ghulam Maarouf Rashid
Ghulam Maarouf Rashid, a young intelligence officer who worked with the Taliban in the 1990s, recalls the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001, saying, “I started my career in agriculture, but then became a teacher,” after the collapse of “Taliban,” “then we began our jihad.”
Ghulam planted Russian-made mines and homemade explosive devices on the roads, one of the deadliest tactics of the war.
He said that he fought mainly in Chak district, which is his hometown, and that area fell to the Taliban about four months ago.
"I remember we paid the army soldiers some money so they could travel home," the former rebel said. "I didn't expect that after two months all the Americans would have left, and we would visit our friends in Kabul."
Ghulam found himself again in the Taliban government.
He goes to work in Wardak's governor's office every day, and sleeps with his family every night.
Volunteer worker.. "Thought"
When the Taliban movement began its strong advance across the country this year, the Afghan mother, Khatra, thought of her 14-year-old daughter, the same age she was during the first Taliban regime, and she and her colleagues were forced To marry people they don't know.
Khatera, 34, relates: “I knew what life would look like.
I remembered when the rebels returned with what seemed like an unstoppable force, ending the female season.”
And I thought about the career I've built, from radio anchor, to project manager for an international aid organization, over the past two decades.
(Khatera) explained: “The independence and economic freedom was a beautiful thing for me,” continuing: “When I entered those doors, I saw what life could be like.”
And in the first few weeks, since the Taliban seized power, much of that freedom is gone.
Khatera is afraid to send her children to school.
She is also afraid to go to her office, and knows that even if she is able to, she will not be able to return to her old job, while the international relief organization she works for has appointed a man in her place, to communicate with the "Taliban".
Intelligence officer.. Sher Agha Safi
On one last day in September, Sher Agha Safi stood in front of two Marines, outside the base tent city in Quantico, Virginia, which is now his temporary home. He was evacuated from Afghanistan this summer, along with thousands of others.
"I didn't believe that would happen and that all of Afghanistan would fall into the hands of the Taliban," said Safi, even though he has spent the past year on one of the most volatile front lines in Afghanistan.
Until August 15, he was serving as an officer in the Afghan Military Intelligence, after joining the US-backed military force, more than 10 years ago.
His fellow Marines had never heard of Askar Gah, the capital of Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, where Safi spent months under siege, in a bloody urban battle with the Taliban.
A series of suicide bombings and US and Afghan air strikes destroyed parts of the city, killing and wounding hundreds of fighters and civilians.
"At that time we still had hope," Safi said of the battle of Askar Gah, which lasted all summer, as the surrounding areas collapsed. "We never thought of surrendering," he said.
The truck driver.. Abdul Baseer Farsrat
Abdul Basir Farsat drove trucks along the Herat-Kandahar-Kabul road for 35 years, but during the last months of the war, that route saw much of the country collapse, as Taliban fighters advanced toward the capital.
The first neighborhood that witnessed its fall was Al-Nourak, in the Wilayat of Ghazni, about five months ago.
The Afghan driver was relieved to see that.
On the road was a security checkpoint staffed by soldiers from the former government, shooting at his truck, and demanding money.
"We thanked God for our deliverance from the oppression of government soldiers," said Vasrat, 48, after it was seized.
The driver lives in Kandahar with his family, but makes the 1,000-mile journey whenever there is work.
He earned the merit, without education, and drove his truck under five different Afghan governments, two of them under the Taliban.
Now, Fersat, who owns three trucks, does not pay bribes under the Taliban.
It would be a huge windfall, and with no fighting means he can go wherever he wants, whenever he wants (I can leave in the middle of the night, if I want).
The employee.. the life of Samira Khairkhwa
Samira Kherkhwa's life epitomizes the gains made by Afghan women during the war years, and the ambition that these achievements spurred in many of them.
After completing her university studies, in the north, Kherkhwa (25 years), found her way to the capital, Kabul, through a program that encourages young people with funding from the United States.
By 2018, she landed a job campaigning for the re-election of Afghanistan's president, Ashraf Ghani.
From there, she became a spokeswoman for the state electricity company, in Kabul, dreaming of eventually running for president.
But as the Taliban pressed relentlessly during their advance over the summer, Khairkhwa began to have nightmares. "I saw in a dream that (Taliban) elements came to our office and our house."
She kept what she saw to herself, afraid that telling anyone might make it a reality.
On August 15, the employee was on her way to the office when she got stuck in a horrific traffic jam in Kabul, stopped in a restaurant, filmed a clip of the chaos, which was broadcast on the news, and returned home.
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