Minorities were targeted in their sacred places. Hindus were killed in their temples while they were praying. To keep themselves safe, all Hindus from Afghanistan have left the country. Hazaras (a minority ethnicity in Afghanistan) were always targeted by the Taliban whether it was a school, mosque, wedding, hospital, road, or education center. Military personnel and judges were all killed. People fled the country. Some made it to a safe place and are living in difficult situations. They are struggling with finding jobs, learning a new language, and adapting to a new environment. Some are refugees who do not have legal documents to stay there and are at risk of being kicked out of the host country. 

Four decades of war had taken away fathers and brothers of Afghan families. In the past twenty years, women who had studied and had created jobs for themselves or other Afghans had become the breadwinner and supporters of their families. But with the fall of Afghanistan in 2021, women for the second time are locked in the four walls of their houses. Finding a loaf of bread has become a challenge. 34 million Afghans live in poverty, according to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and as a result of the country’s security issue, humanitarian aid operations have drastically decreased (UNDP, 2023).  

With the coming of the Taliban, NGOs are closed, and the Taliban have fired previous government employees and instead have hired relatives of the Taliban who do not know about that particular office. Good prices have skyrocketed, and people cannot afford even simple things. To not starve, Afghans started selling their houses. By selling every household item they had, they bought food for their family members. After everything in the house was sold, they sold their kidneys, families even sold their daughters. Poverty has made people even sell their children who are dear to their hearts. Note that during history the ones who suffered the most were women. This applied to the history of Afghanistan. Now, again, women are being victimized. When selling children, only girls are sold, not boys. Girls are considered as less valuable than boys. 

Nothing exists in the name of freedom of speech in Afghanistan. The media landscape has undergone a significant transformation since the Taliban came to power, according to a survey by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Afghan Independent Journalists Association (AIJA). Since August 15th, 231 newspapers have had to close their doors, while more than 6,400 reporters have lost their jobs. Four out of five female journalists no longer work, making them the most severely affected group (RSF, 2021). Due to the restrictions imposed by the Taliban in the media, most journalists cannot report on what is happening in Afghanistan. 

            The last two years have taken away everything Afghans had achieved in 20 years. Those who were educated and could help with the development of the country have fled. The Talibans say there is security when in reality, everyone is being suffocated by the restrictions implemented by them. According to the Taliban, both peace and security are present. Maybe there is no war between two opposing groups or between the government and a terrorist group, as there was in the past, although as ISIS has blown up some places, there is no security. People are not secure if they have worked with the military, they do not have financial security, speech security, opinion security, or education security. Both peace and security are missing. 

            As I am writing this, I am remembering how I tried to recover from the shock I received two years ago and how my heart aches every time I see the suffering of the people in Afghanistan. I hope things will become better and people will never have to experience such incidents again.