As heart-wrenching visuals of the Taliban taking over control in Afghanistan flood social media, several eminent personalities from the neighbouring country have shared their feelings of loss and despair. Among them is bestselling writer Khaled Hosseini, who in a Facebook post, shared a phone conversation he had with his first cousin who lives in Herat.
“I have a first cousin in the city of Herat in Western Afghanistan. We grew up together in the 1970s. I remember we used to play 45 RPM records and dance together. I’ve not seen her in nearly fifty years. I remember her as a bright young woman with green eyes and freckles, and a warm, contagious smile.
I phone her yesterday. She sounded terrified. She told me that all her grown children had fled Herat for Kabul, a safe haven at least for now, and she is alone with her son in a city now under the Taliban flag," he wrote.
Here is the post: https://www.facebook.com/KhaledHosseini
Sharing his memories from the last time Taliban had ruled the country, the author of ‘The Kite Runner’ and ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ wrote: “There are many lasting horrific images from the last time the Taliban ruled Afghanistan: the public beatings, the cutting off of hands, the executions inside stadiums, the barbaric and senseless destruction of historical artifacts. But for me the lasting mental picture of the Taliban circa 1990’s is that of the stick holding Talib beating a burqa-clad woman. The Taliban systematically terrorized women. They took away their freedom of movement, their freedom to work, their right to education, their right to wear jewelry, to grow their nails or paint them, to laugh in public, to even show their faces. Is that what is in store for my cousin? For her daughter? And the countless brave Afghan women who for twenty years labored to achieve some measure of autonomy, dignity, and selfhood?"
In response to the viral post, which has been shared over 8,000 times, a reader wrote: “Your country has touched my soul ever since I read your 1st book. You opened my eyes to what Afghanistan really is. In the sheltered world I live in, I only saw countries like yours the way they were portrayed on tv. It never occurred to me that life there was ever any different than a war torn barren place. When I realized what it used to be like, it hurt my heart in a way I can’t explain. My heart goes out to all the Afghan people." (sic).
Earlier in the day, dozens of Taliban fighters have taken control of the presidential palace in Afghanistan capital Kabul, declaring victory over the Afghan government in images broadcast on television. “Our country has been liberated and the mujahideen are victorious in Afghanistan,” one militant told news channel Al Jazeera from the palace.
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