Experiences of an Afghan Citizen

I was alone, uh, I wanted to go through that corner way where two

of these staff members— I think they were former employees.

I asked them, "Where is the way out?" Before, during the Republic era too,

I had flown several times, been to Dubai, and seen it.

The way, I mean, but this time, from a completely different route, I think,

so it'd be a shortcut when exiting, someone showed me.

He said, "Go this way so you won't have to wait in line."

When I went there, there were two former staff members.

I asked them, "Countryman, how do I get

out? Which way is the exit?"

He pulled me aside by the wall and said, "Brother,

every passenger coming from abroad gives us some tea money.

They give us, I don't know, money for this." I

said:

"Brother, right now I don't have Afghan money on me." He says, "No

problem. Euros, dollars, whatever you have." Then I

said, "Well, brother,

"I don't have the money on me." He was speaking Persian to me.

I said, "Well, let me go exchange my money with Mawlawi

Sahib; there's a Mujahid Sahib there

to exchange it with, and I'll bring the money and give it to you,

with your permission." He got kind of scared, kind of hesitant.

He said, "No, be careful." Look, he showed

the way to us.

One thing, all that time I was in Kabul, I mean, believe me,

I was there for nearly 40 days. I mean, I traveled around Kabul, Bamyan,

Sheikh Ali, Ghorband, Maidan Wardak...

We drove at night. All that time, no one

asked us, "Brother, where are you from? Where are you going?"

Only one night, we came from Band-e Amir to Bamyan.

I remember well, it was 7:00 p.m. We came via the Maidan Wardak road,

that former valley during the Republic— I don't know, they called it Death Valley or

whatever, where a lot of news came out of.

We came along that way, and a young guard stopped us.

He saw our license plate and asked, "Where are you coming from?" We said

we had gone on a trip. "We came from here. As for our home, we're from Ghorband Valley."

He said, "Safe travels." He asked us, "Did anyone bother you or not?"

We said, "No, no one bothered us." Then, when

we reached the Kabul gate,

they asked us ag— flashed a light and said, "Stop." I mean,

believe me, regarding the security, in all the time that I myself—

I'm about 30, 35 years old, and all my life had been spent in Afghanistan itself.

Except for the last ten or 12 years abroad, I had never seen

such security. I mean, security is at a level

that you can say is even better than in Europe.

But my request to you is this: as a citizen, from right here

I raise my voice, as the smallest member of Afghan society,

holding Afghan citizenship, as a citizen of Afghanistan.

Wherever in the world I go, I am known as an Afghan, in the name of Afghanistan.

Honestly, whatever I say, when my friends see me from afar, they say, "Honestly,

your behavior is so Afghan." Sometimes I joke around with some of them,

saying I'm from somewhere else. They say, "No, no matter what, you're from there."

So I

am therefore proud to be from Afghanistan.

Every country has its good sides and its bad sides.