Over the last week, scenes of desperation have blared through screens all over the world in regards to the political situation going on in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan: women´s rights

Desperate mothers doing their best attempts to save their children from a life that they knew they knew they would soon be subjected to.

Desperate fathers trying to escort their daughters into crowded planes. Desperate people trying to escape knowing the life they had started to live, a life they deserved would all soon end under Taliban rule.

As someone who has written and continues to write about the mental health cost of war, I have reached out to several of my veteran friends this week. Many are hurting, many are feeling confused and angry. There is a feeling among most that all the work they have done, the consequence they have suffered and lives that have been lost meant nothing.

Some, for the first time in a while, have felt their mental health battles come back in full force, feeling the familiar face of PTSD and Depression come knocking once more. They feel alone, they feel isolated and they feel betrayed.

For me, my heart bleeds for all the people involved but in particular those in Afghanistan who have simply wanted to live their lives. For the woman who were finally able to experience elements of equality.

The young girls who had for the first time in their country’s history be able to study and pursue roles in society which were once male orientated.

In a country where the leading cause of death is maternal mortality, these statistics had skyrocketed for the better. 

A country started to build hope with a generation focused on forming a new progressive country after decades of turmoil.

By doing nothing, we set fire to all that has been accomplished for these people who deserve so much better than this.
It was put simply by a friend of mine who served three tours in the country.

“Afghanistan is more than the Taliban. Everywhere you look there were people who simply wanted to live their lives, free from rule, wanting to make their own choices.”

If you ask me, isn’t that everyone’s right on this earth?