Life is full of ups and downs, especially in a country with a bloody past. In a country where politicians have always thrown political systems into the abyss.
Sunday, August 15, I left home for the office at 6:30 in the morning. I arrived at the office at 7:20. After tidying up my desk, I started reviewing the defendants’ files. The office seemed quiet. I wanted to know how many of my colleagues came to the office. I went from branch to branch. A small number of my colleagues were present at their posts. A few hours passed. I noticed that there was noise coming from outside. When I went to the courtyard, I saw my colleagues rushing out of the office, saying, get out, the whole employees left. It was as if everything has been destroyed and all their possessions have perished.
I called a friend of mine who was an employee of the Administrative Office of the President. But I could not make a call. I got upset and, on the advice of my colleagues, closed the office and left. I walked the crossroads of Abdul Haq to Dehmzang. Terror reigned in the city. Neither the Taliban nor the government soldiers were seen in the streets.
People were confused and terrified. I got home with a lot of problems. Less than an hour later, a friend of mine called me, saying that the Taliban had entered one of the units near our house and disarmed the soldiers. I hurried out of the house. I saw several mullahs of the mosques in the area have reached the relevant section and are looting all the facilities and equipment of that section with the help of the residents of the same area. When I looked at the soldiers, they were in very bad condition. They were all in tears. “The unscrupulous sold us all and fled,” One of the soldiers, whom I already knew, hugged me with tears in his eyes, cried, and said.
“We have been instructed to surrender and leave as soon as possible.”
I cried with him, for a homeland that never had a good day. Since the situation was dangerous for me and I was also mentally upset, I left there and returned home. Absolute blackout prevailed in the house, including the alley and the bazaar. Everyone was upset and disappointed, about the homeland and the vague and unknown future we were going to face. It was as if the body of that country had fallen to the ground that day and Afghanistan had become a land of the moving dead. I realized that everything was lost and it would take a long time to get back to better.
With Ghani and his cabinet fleeing the country, everyone’s hands were tied. As one of the thousands of young people in Afghanistan, I wanted to work for this country; But everything fell apart overnight and was lost. When I remember with what enthusiasm and hope I graduated from Kabul University and then entered the master’s program and was able to reach its final semester, I ask myself, where are that hope and happiness now? We are the ones who are being sacrificed and slaughtered every day under any name or title. These are stressful days.
In the hope of the day when every individual will put a brick for the prosperity of this land with patriotism and fulfill his responsibility towards the homeland.
[box type=”info” align=”alignleft” class=”” width=””]Massoud Ahmad Darwish’s Story, Hasht-e Subh[/box]