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'Went into hiding, lost relatives': How Afghan soldier's life changed in 15 days
The officer shared his sorrow with HT over an instant messaging application from an undisclosed location.
It has been 15 days since hardline Islamists of the Taliban captured war-torn Afghanistan, gripping the lives of Afghan people with fear, terror and uncertainty. Among those, is a 25-year-old Afghan National Army (ANA) officer trained in Dehradun-based Indian Military Academy (IMA) who witnessed tragic changes in his life in the fortnight.
The officer, who was once a proud army officer serving his country, had to hide his uniform to save himself from the Taliban’s death threat on August 15 when it captured Kabul in an overrun of the country.
Hiding in an undisclosed location a few kilometres away from Kabul, he was “already broken from inside due to the death of his army” when on Thursday he further sank into deep sorrow after getting to know that three of his relatives lost their lives in the bomb blast outside Kabul airport on Thursday evening in which at least 180 have died so far.
“Its all pain and agony now”
The officer shared his sorrow with HT over an instant messaging application from an undisclosed location saying, “It’s all pain and agony in the country now. There is no smile on anyone’s face. Common people are gripped in fear and uncertainty with many already surrendering their fate to God under Taliban rule.”
The officer whose identity cannot be disclosed due to security reasons, added, “After being forced to hide my uniform after the collapse of our army, I was still under a shock trying to cope with it while in hiding. And then I got to know the unfortunate news about the death of one of my cousin brothers and his two sons in the powerful suicide blast near Kabul airport on Thursday evening.”
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“It was as if the pain and agony were not enough, that Allah decided me to put through another test through this tragedy. I was feeling so helpless on the news shared to me by my family over the phone that I can’t describe it in words. What was their fault who were just trying to escape this tyranny of the Taliban for a better future? His two sons, aged 7 and 9 years, were too young to depart this world. Their faces still come before me when I close my eyes,” said the officer.
“All in vain”
Emotionally exhausted, the officer also shared his pain of seeing the “sacrifices of his colleagues in the army going in vain.”
“For 20 years we fought the Taliban in an effort to give a future free of fear and terror to the new generation. I know many of my friends in the army who went to the battlefield against the Taliban five days after getting married. They never got to see the face of their brides as they returned draped in the national flag which is now removed from all over the country by the Taliban,” he said.
The officer added, “In the months before the collapse on August 15, many of us fought with only one meal a day instead of three. Many of us were also not getting the salaries on time but we never complained because we were fighting for our country. But all these sacrifices went in vain because we were sold out by the politicians and top commanders.”
“But... little joys”
The ANA officer whose childhood was spent during the rule of the Taliban from 1996-2001, also shared some joyous moments.
“Amongst all this sad news, my younger sister made me happy by informing me that she had passed the entrance examination at Kabul University. Though we don’t know what this result will mean now but for the moment we are happy as we are gradually learning to find little joys amid the air of fear, death and despair,” said the officer, adding “there’s always hope for us as we Afghans are the most resilient.”
