Aryan Aryahee and Safira Hashemi, two young Afghan refugees, had been hoping one day to return to the country they were born in. With the return of the Taliban over the past few days, this hope has vanished.
"I am sad to see what is happening in Afghanistan and in Kabul right now," says Aryan. The IT professional left his country 10 years ago. His father, a general in the Afghan army, was training soldiers in cooperation with the US forces at the time. Fearful for his family's safety, he sent his 16 year old son abroad.
Aryan expected that the American withdrawal would throw his country into disarray. But that the Taliban invasion would be this fast surprised even him.
"We did expect that the Taliban would return to power some day. But not this quickly. Not one, two weeks after the US left, but maybe one, two years", says the 26 year old.
The causes are easily identified, says Aryan. For one thing, there's corruption on all levels of government. Plus the fear of the Taliban played a major psychological role in how quickly the army and police capitulated.
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"Before 2002, they beat women, cut off their heads and feet. Anything you should never do to a human being, they did it."
This fear of the Taliban is now paralysing a large part of the Afghan population. Many stores are closed. No women can be seen outside. Aryan and his wife Safira watch Afghan television, where Taliban propaganda has already taken over. Romances with women wearing the burka.
"My family still lives in Afghanistan. My parents, my sisters, my brothers. They are very stressed out. They are afraid. My parents work for the government. Now they are afraid of the Taliban's reaction", says 28 year old Safira.
The Taliban's offer of amnesty for civil servants does not surprise Aryan and Safira. The Taliban fighters are poorly educated; often they have only studied the Quran. This means they still need the existing civil servants at the moment. But the couple have little faith in a Taliban-led Afghan Emirate long term.
"The 20 years Europeans and Americans spent in my country to bring progress, they will all be for nothing if the Taliban stay. Lost years," says Safira.
Europeans and Americans made a big mistake over the past 20 years: They totally underestimated the geopolitical situation, the ethnic past and economic interests in the region.
"When the Americans and Europeans put a new government in place, this was against the interests of Iran, Pakistan, China and Russia, because NATO was in control," says Aryan.
20 years completely wasted. It is too late now to turn back time, concludes Safira.
