Abandoned by the U.S., she hurried to record her story before extremists could find her.
On the wall of my home office is a photo of boys and young men flying kites in Kabul, seeking a moment of joy in a dun-colored landscape. It was taken in 2007 by the photographer Tomás Munita while he and I were reporting a story for The Times about the post-Taliban resurgence of the Afghan tradition of kite-fighting. Banned by the extremist group, the pastime had once again become the main recreational activity of male Afghans. |
Over the years, I've seen so much of the Afghan people's struggle and hope represented in that image, especially the determination to find happiness — and something resembling peace, however momentary — amid so much hardship. |
I haven't been in Afghanistan for more than a decade, but memories of the place came surging back amid the American military withdrawal and the Taliban's lightning-quick sweep across the country and return to power. |
The Opinion Video team considered ways to cover this dramatic and heartbreaking turn of events. We soon found our subject in Najlla Habibyar, a 37-year-old Afghan and U.S. green card holder. |
She was trapped in Kabul, hiding from the Taliban along with about 20 members of her extended family. She feared that she was on a Taliban hit list because she had worked closely with the U.S. government, and she wanted to get her story out into the world before the extremists found her. |
"I don't know how long I will be able to live," she told me by phone. "I'm feeling like this is the end." |
She also told what amounted to a deeply sad love story. As she sought to escape Afghanistan, she reckoned with what she called her "delusional love" for the country, an affection driven by her lifelong desire for a stable home but one that seemed blind to the realities of a country that might, in the end, kill her. |
Habibyar's story, in many ways, describes the broader struggle of generations of Afghans to seek signs of hope — like those flashes of colorful kites in the Kabul sky — amid ceaseless political uncertainty and war. |
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