Return of terror

Growing up in Calcutta, Kabul occupied an intriguing picture in my mind. Our city was home to quite a few 'Kabuliwalas'; they'd work essentially as moneylenders extending loans to any, and all, people in need. Some sold dry fruits and eventually in present day Kolkata, run small businesses. Rabindranath Tagore's short story from 1892, 'Kabuliwala' and the 1961 Balraj Sahni film based on it also helped familiarise us to these businessmen from Kabul.

My father knew some of them and I'd heard the name 'Khan' (as they were called), mentioned a few times during my childhood. I suspect my dad's fascination for Pathan suits (he had a cherished few in his wardrobe that he'd take out on special occasions) stemmed from his familiarity and friendship with them. As a young, self-made businessman, my father also availed of a few loans from these Kabuliwalas as and when needed. While some would fear the often well-built, strapping foreigners, my father was most comfortable dealing with them. As a car rally enthusiast, my father had participated in the Second Asian Highway Rally that flagged off in Tehran, Iran. The 6,800-km journey took him and 61 other car crews from nine countries through Kabul, Kathmandu in Nepal, several Indian cities, before finishing in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Once you have been to a place, there's a comfort in knowing the people, even thousands of kilometres away in one's own land.

For all these reasons and more, Kabul became a place that I definitely dreamed to visit and even came close to once though the trip got cancelled. My only tryst with Kabul was when I mentored a young Afghani woman journalist in 2017 as part of an initiative by Sahar Speaks. In my mind, Kabul and Afghanistan remained that hallowed place that I would visit, surely, there would be time. Little did any of us know that the situation would change so drastically within such a short period of time.

Taliban terror has taken over Afghanistan and even though the Taliban are projecting a more moderate face, I remain cynical about how much freedom they would allow the Afghanis especially, the women. The last time around, they kept women away from education and work, mutilated women like Bibi Aisha, destroyed the Buddhas of Bamiyan, and unleashed countless, unimaginable horrors. How can we repose any faith in a brutal, regressive, irrational regime like the Taliban? Have they changed? Will they allow Afghani women to visit university and take up jobs? Will there really be freedom of press? Will the men be allowed to live life the way they want to or will they lead shackled lives? These are still early days and while the Taliban promises that women will be allowed to work, we have already heard them sending female staffers home from the state-run news channel and banks. Posters of women are being whitewashed or faces blackened. Looks like the same Taliban to me.

As women, we are aggrieved and scared for our counterparts. What will be the fate of all those who protested against the Taliban regime? Both men and women who continue to bravely protest even now. That show of courage won't go ignored, there will be retribution, if not now when global attention is on the Taliban but maybe once they have completely settled in.

These are strange times; the US after waging a 20-year war has unceremoniously upped and left. Even if their reasons are legitimate, there's no denying that they have left behind a nation in turmoil. Looking back at history, there is no nation that the US has gotten politically involved in and left behind in a better state! International communities are silent or helpless, or both. While some nations such as the UK and Canada will resettle 20,000 Afghanis, others like Turkey and Austria have refused to accept refugees. India will give refuge to Hindus and Sikhs on priority and others who need it. The US has been accepting Afghani refugees during their time in the country. But the general tone of most nations is of non-acceptance of refugees, nobody wants them.

It's a quiet discomfort, a shroud of worry that refuses to lift. I fear for the young Afghans who have learnt to live in freedom, the older folk who may have thought they have already seen the back of evil, I worry for those skateboarding girls who were fighting gender inequality, I am concerned for the journalist I mentored and am yet to hear from. We can't just sit around without doing anything. We can donate to relief funds to the likes of the International Committee of the Red Cross, International Rescue Committee, and UN Human Rights Committee, or any other organisations that are working on the ground. We can amplify our voice against what's happening or could happen in Afghanistan by signing petitions and urging countries to support refugees. And while we do this, my question and plea to world leaders – Will you allow the rule of terror and slavery to return to Afghanistan?

The writer is an author and media entrepreneur. Views expressed are personal