Kabul, AFGHANISTAN – My hometown is Kabul city, the capital of Afghanistan.
Kabul used to be a great place with the best schools and universities. In Kabul there was a university by the name of American University.
Everyone wanted to go to American University when they graduated from school. Kabul had many beautiful places to visit, like our beautiful public park Bagh Babor, The National Museum of Afghanistan and restaurants.
During that time, people celebrated special days like Valentine’s Day, when the city would be decorated with red roses, teddy bears and heart-shaped balloons.
Right now there are still parks, restaurants, museums – everything – but these places aren’t like they were before, because of restrictions.
Everywhere used to be so beautiful, and during Eid, TV shows featured singers who were invited to come and sing songs. These shows were pre-recorded, but still very interesting.
Kabul was a beautiful place for me in the past. Even the TV shows were great. People were free and happy, but there was always fear in their hearts because most explosions in Afghanistan happened in Kabul.
One of the saddest explosions was at Kabul University in 2020 when students were studying in class as men with guns stormed the campus and killed at least 22 people. These kinds of terrorist attacks always took place in cars, universities and schools.
Attacks like this were shocking and very scary. Whenever I wanted to go out, I just prayed that there wouldn’t be an explosion that day.
Despite all this, people were still happy.
These good years – from 2001 to 2020 – didn’t last long. The end of our happy days came in 2021 when the Taliban returned to Kabul.
The Americans, who had occupied Afghanistan since 2001, left in 2021 when the Taliban came back to power.
At that time people were trying to get out of Kabul. Everyone was afraid of the Taliban and wanted to leave.
Kabul had become a city of horror.
Many people left Kabul with the Americans, including those who had worked with foreigners, some soldiers of the previous government, singers, and those who worked in the media.
The president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, fled the country, and all the ministers also escaped.
Then people became unemployed, and restrictions increased.
First, girls’ schools were closed. I remember that day very clearly.
It was my last exam at school and I was about to solve the exam paper when suddenly I heard the sound of gunfire.
All of us students were surprised when suddenly the school principal came and said that we should all go directly home.
We all left without taking the exam.
That was the last day of school for us. Restrictions increased every day in Kabul and other provinces.
Women cannot go from one province to another province without men and they aren’t allowed to go to parks or work at a job outside the home.
Despite these challenges, no one gave up. Girls who could no longer go to school started secretly studying their lessons in online schools and courses.
We all want to get a scholarship and continue our education abroad, but still there are many people who cannot study online. The reason is that the internet is expensive in Afghanistan and not everyone can afford that.
Most people in Afghanistan are jobless. They go to Iran, Pakistan and other countries to find money and support their family.
I wish that one day Kabul would become the beautiful place it used to be.
Nazanin Boniadi is a Junior Reporter with Youth Journalism International.
