A year since Taliban forces took control of Afghanistan, SBS News journalist Rashida Yosufzai reflects on the fall of Kabul and what's happened to her family there since.
The images were distressing enough. Dozens of desperate Afghans, clinging to the sides of a departing US Air Force plane.
I was watching the images roll in on social media accounts, horrified like so many others as the desperation unfolded seemingly in real-time.Your uncle is at the airport, he said.My mind was trying to shift from journalist mode. When I finally could, I tried to picture my uncle in the crowd. I scrolled through the pictures and videos on my feed trying to search for him.
On rare phone calls, I hear the fear in their voice and the sudden tone of the call being disconnected.A year on from the Taliban takeover, my family has seen some of their nightmares come true. A humanitarian crisis that’s left millions starving, an economic crisis that’s made leaders into paupers, and others, directly persecuted by the new regime.For most reporters covering these issues, it’s often at an arm’s length. These topics, stories, tragedies, are affecting strangers.
Around this time last year, I was interviewing vulnerable people - interpreters, women leaders, persecuted minorities - fleeing the Taliban takeover. They were strangers to me but were facing the same situation as my own relatives.