{"id":26384,"date":"2022-08-17T14:21:17","date_gmt":"2022-08-17T10:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/?post_type=articles&p=26384"},"modified":"2022-08-17T14:21:36","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T10:21:36","slug":"one-year-anniversary-of-taliban-afghanistan-opinion","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/me\/articles\/one-year-anniversary-of-taliban-afghanistan-opinion\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking Back A Year After The Taliban’s Return, This Afghan Woman Asks Herself: Was It All Worth It?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Words by<\/em><\/strong> Maz Hakim<\/p>\n

August 15th<\/sup> 2021, was one of the most anxious days of my life. I remember waking up a few times throughout the night to check my phone and read the news.\u00a0\u00a0It felt like everything was happening in slow motion in what felt like an alternate universe. Kabul had fallen. Were these the scenes of a horror movie?<\/p>\n

It was a feeling of anxiousness and disbelief. The entire trajectory of the country was about to change. A land that was once known for many things \u2013 its mountainous terrains, its brave people, the land of poetry and storytelling, love and fables \u2013 would now be forever etched and associated with those haunting scenes at Kabul Airport.<\/p>\n

I remember watching a live video of the airport security personnel fleeing the airport, leaving a huge security vacuum at the civilian terminals. All you saw was a scene of thousands of panicked people frantically running through the gates and into the airport trying to rewrite their destiny.\u00a0\u00a0I had grown up hearing of how my parents escaped Afghanistan for a better life. Paying a smuggler to help them escape, walking without food and water for an entire week risking the danger of being caught. Their toenails falling off, a permanent reminder of their horrific journey. But that was over 30 years ago and this was now. History was repeating itself.<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Maz Hakim \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddeb \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddfa| Beauty Host | Dubai \ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddea (@mazzhakim)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n