http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/08/world/asia/afghanistan-war.html
By THE NEW YORK TIMES, OCT. 7, 2016
KABUL, Afghanistan — On this day 15 years ago, the United States began a costly war in Afghanistan that in several ways is more grim now than ever before. Now, even as the European Union is preparing to send tens of thousands of Afghan migrants back, war, intimidation and dislocation are a daily reality for many families in Afghanistan.
With the American military presence down to less than 10,000 troops in Afghanistan, the Taliban are again seizing large stretches of territory. And the hope that the Afghan security forces, trained and funded by the United States, could keep at least major cities safe from the Taliban is crumbling.
This week, the Taliban overran the provincial capital of Kunduz for a second time in a year, and insurgents threaten several other provincial capitals. Small pockets of new militants claiming affiliation with the Islamic State have added to the chaos, wreaking havoc in parts of the country’s east.Photo
Here are accounts from a few of the Afghans caught up by the war, translated and edited for clarity.
Samim Rahimi, 19, is a second-year pharmacy student in Kunduz and a part-time pharmacist at a private clinic. As thousands of people fled the Taliban assault this week, his family of 10 decided to stay.
My dad suffers from asthma — I searched the whole city today, there was only one small pharmacy open in the Dawra Township. I found the medicine, but fighting started again and I am stuck here. ...
The Taliban came suddenly and fighting was street-to-street from that first day. There are lots of army soldiers in the city also. People are caught in the fighting. ..
This time the number of wounded people has increased, the hospitals are closed and the wounded remain at home. For three days, I was stuck in the basement of the clinic with two patients, one nurse, one doctor and one guard. I got about 50 calls from people asking whether we could treat their wounded. I said, “Sorry, the clinic is closed.” ...
This is our city, our home. No one thought the city would fall to the Taliban. But now no one — neither the government nor the Taliban — guarantees that the clinic will not be burned or looted.
UZBEKISTAN
TURKMENISTAN
TAJIKISTAN
Kunduz
Mazar-i-Sharif
FARYAB
KUNDUZ
Maimana
Pashtun Kot
District
Kabul
Jalalabad
AFGHANISTAN
Shinwari
District
NANGARHAR
Achin
District
Khas-Oruzgan
District
Tirin Kot
ORUZGAN
PAKISTAN
150 Miles
By Joe Burgess/The New York Times
Abdul Karim Karimi, 50, is the district governor of Khas-Oruzgan, in the southern province of Oruzgan. The province’s capital city, Tirin Kot, barely survived a Taliban assault in September. Mr. Karimi has 10 children and his district remains surrounded by the insurgents.
The roads are completely blocked by the Taliban, and we have no access to the market, although it is very close. The Taliban are all around and they sniff anyone who dares to come out to travel on the road — it’s like buying your own death. The price of a can of cooking oil or a sack of flour has more than doubled because the Taliban are not allowing food items to the district center. ...
We are basically living in military barracks. My family is living right among the security forces. They cannot go out or go to school. There is no school in the district, no health facilities. It is especially very difficult for women during childbirth — they either die, suffer or just wait for the mercy of God. ...
Over the past three years, the Taliban have killed two of my brothers. Including the families of my late brothers, we have 48 people living in the same compound. It is a dreadful situation. Anytime the Taliban launch rockets, we spend hours in the basements.
I am very tired of my life, and this situation. It’s been four years I have been the governor of the district, and four times the district has come close to collapsing to the Taliban.
Friba Turani, 44, is a member of the provincial council in Faryab Province, where the Taliban threaten several districts. She has five children, and her husband died during the Taliban regime.
I am from Pashtun Kot district, but because of insecurity in the district ... I live in the provincial capital. Most of the Pashtun Kot district is in Taliban control. ...
Even in Maimana, the provincial capital, I and other people don’t feel very secure. I don’t have restful sleep during the night; I wake up two or three times to see that everything is fine.
I have two sons and three daughters — my oldest son is 26 years old and my youngest daughter 18. I lost my husband during the Taliban regime when a rocket landed in our house. I live with my brothers. ...
I am always thinking about the security of my family, my children. Once, I thought about sending my children to Kabul so they could live in a safer place and study properly. But then I thought my children are not more important than the rest of the people in Faryab.
Shoaib, 20, was too frightened to let anything other than a nickname be used. He lives in Achin district, large parts of which remain under control of militants who have claimed loyalty to the Islamic State. He has three sisters and six brothers.
I graduated from the teacher training institute a couple months ago, but I was not able to work in my own field, as all schools in our area are closed. ... I work as a farmer on plots that don’t belong to us. ...
Now an Afghan is in charge of ISIS here. The behavior of ISIS members has changed: They are not making problems for us, they are not beating us. But still, ISIS has banned using phones, smoking, cutting your beard and using chewing tobacco. If they see you doing so, they will imprison you for 10 days, and they will take a guarantee from you. If they arrest you for doing the same thing again, they will punish you much harder.
The main bazaar in Achin district — the Shadal Bazaar — and other bazaars here are shut. We are bringing in a small amount of food and other things from Marko and Ghanikhel areas of Shinwari district, because government is not allowing us to bring in large amounts. They say you are supplying this for ISIS.
Living here is very hard — we always live with fear. But we don’t have any other place to go, we cannot afford to rent a house somewhere else.
Kamila Rasooli, 26, is a teacher in Tirin Kot’s only high school for girls. She has two children, and the family fled to Kabul after the recent Taliban assault on their home city.
When the Taliban approached the outskirts of Tirin Kot city and spread panic among the citizens, everyone tried to evacuate. The school was closed and the students left the city. ... It was very hard for my family to leave, but we had no choice because the Taliban were almost in the city. ... Now we have moved in with our relatives in Kabul, leaving behind all our belongings in Tirin Kot.
The girls’ school had 800 students and around 16 female teachers. ... I graduated from the same school and had been teaching there for one year. ... The school is closed now, and I heard that the police used it as a check post. The windows and doors are broken.
We will return when the government secures the area. It was difficult to spend the night when you hear the sounds of bullets. I am missing my students and fellow teachers.
Accounts were compiled by Mujib Mashal, Fahim Abed, Taimoor Shah and Najim Rahim.
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