Afghan women: Secret diaries of changing lives

There's a scene in The Handmaid's Tale, the TV series based on Margaret Attwood's dystopian novel, where the main heroine, book editor June Osborne, comes at her job one morning only to hear that the country's new leaders have barred women from the workplace. Her employer gathers all the female staff and instructs them to pack up their belongings and go home. Maari, a former Afghan Army soldier, had a nearly comparable experience on August 15, 2021. She heads to work at a federal ministry at 7:30 a.m., anticipating a full day of meetings and conferences. When she steps outside, she notes how quiet the streets are, but she continues on her walk, pulling out her phone to check her schedule for upcoming meetings. "You've come to work!" exclaim shocked male colleagues when she walks in. "I don't think Kabul is going to fall," she replies. When her boss confronts her, she has barely put down her luggage. "Go home and tell all the women," he says. She follows orders, walking from room to room and ordering female staff to leave immediately. When her supervisor, on the other hand, urges her to go home, she refuses. "I'm staying and working as long as my male colleagues are," she says. Maari isn't simply ordinary employee. She's a high-ranking official with an amazing military background, and her employer reluctantly accepts what she says. However, as the day progresses, tales of the Taliban entering Kabul grow increasingly difficult to dismiss. Maari's employer makes the decision to close the ministry and send everyone home.

Khatera, a geography teacher, is starting a new session elsewhere in the city, and her 40 students, all teenage boys, are flipping through their books to find the correct page. Other teachers enter the classroom shortly after, holding their phones. On Facebook, there are contradicting reports: some claim the Taliban are in Qargha, a village on the outskirts of Kabul, while others claim they are in Koht-e Sangi, which is already within the city. Lessons are soon called to a halt, and everyone is sent home.When Khatera reaches the bus stop, she finds people running in every direction, carrying bags and children. Traffic is at a standstill. "Everyone is sargardaan (concerned)," says the narrator. "It's like the Day of Judgment here."

Khatera begins to walk. She isn't concerned at first, but then she watches Afghan troops marching to the airport with their luggage slung over their shoulders and their children trailing behind, gripping the ends of their mothers' scarves. Everyone is getting ready to leave. Khatera's heart races and she starts jogging. Now she knows the Taliban are returning. She keeps saying under her breath, "It's the greatest nightmare."

Zala, a student at the American University of Afghanistan, receives an email at the same time stating that she will be evacuated to the United States within 48 hours. She makes a brief trip to Shar-e Naw, a shopping district in north-west Kabul, to stock up on last-minute travel necessities. She too suddenly sees people running and asks what's going on. The first person she stops is in too much of a hurry to answer, then a man tells her the Taliban have taken Kabul. Zala goes numb.

"I'm losing all my strength, my hands and feet start shaking. How will I make it home?" she thinks to herself. She cries as she passes cafes and restaurants where she regularly caught up with friends, drank coffee and listened to music. Her whole life flashes in front of her. She's too young to have known Taliban rule but she has heard horror stories from her parents who lived under their regime in the 1990s. Unless she gets on the flight, this will be her future.