A year after U.S. troops pulled out of its longest war, one Afghan family’s experience offers a glimpse of how life has transformed under Taliban rule
Hafiza Omari was sleepless and in constant conversation with God as the 20-year war in Afghanistan was coming to an end. The 71-year-old walked restlessly back and forth in her courtyard at night as the Taliban moved into this city in northern Afghanistan in early August 2021. From her house on a rocky hillside, she could see the insurgents fighting their way over the mountains toward the city below.
Maryam, to the left in a pink scarf, sits with her children Hajira and Ruhollah in the corridor of their two-room house.America's longest war ended when the U.S. and NATO withdrew from Afghanistan on August 31, 2021— two weeks after the Taliban regained control of the presidential palace in Kabul and consolidated its victory over the world's most significant military power.
An illegal mine is just off the road to Palang Darah. Most of these mines are controlled by warlords or Taliban commanders and attract unemployed men in search of an income to feed their families. Hafiza's sons work in a similar mine, but none of them have found any gold.When the Taliban rolled into Faizabad and seized control, Rahmanullah, a special forces soldier since 2005, was at home recovering after being injured in battle.
Hafiza, along with her grandchildren and her daughter-in-law, walks out of her house to greet guests. Hafiza says she can hardly count how many grandchildren she has.At the reunion, Noorullah teased his siblings about the salaries they each had received as soldiers. As a commando, Rahmanullah had been paid a monthly salary of 23,700 Afghani—roughly $270 per month—while Noorullah and the other insurgents in the mountains got no compensation.
Afghanistan has spiraled into a humanitarian and economic crisis since the Taliban came to power and rights—including freedom of the press and the right to education—have been crushed. Even before the Taliban retook control, experts regularly deemed Afghanistan as one of the most difficult countries to be a woman, and it is now the only nation in the world where girls are banned from getting a secondary education.
“From a security point of view, the situation is calm and better now, but there is famine and hunger all over the country,” says Hamidullah, who has nine children. “Everything has become expensive." "The Islamic Emirate is doing everything to solve their own problems, but the poor nation is squeezed," Hamidullah says.
"I want to serve the nation," he says."I always felt bad about war because it brings grief and misery. War never gives happiness." Zabiullah walks all the way up the hill to get phone reception so he can call his father, Hamidullah, who is back at their village now. Hamidullah has been struggling to make ends meet since the collapse of the former government, leading him to try mining. The Taliban closed the school where she attended the 10th grade and she hasn’t had a single class for the past year.