Amina Aimaq
22 years old
MA in Talent Management
American University of Central Asia
Kunduz Province
Unforeseen, one day prior to the fall of Kabul I was at home packing my luggage. I had a flight on Tuesday that week—the third week of August. On the day of the collapse, I was home alone. I received a phone call from my brother, who said that the Pole-Charkhi prison had released all prisoners and to stay at home. Suddenly all networks stopped working. The only thing which was on my mind at that time was my family. They were outside. I started thinking, this is it. I will stay there forever stuck with the Taliban, obeying their rule and law. I never thought I would ever leave Afghanistan again. One of the worst things I ever did in my life was leave my family in that condition. I had to. They wanted me to continue studying. I don’t know what would have happened to me if I was still there. Sometimes I think that I was thinking only about myself, even though my family was super supportive about my evacuation. I will never forget that night when I said goodbye to my family and I was thinking, when will I meet them again in my life.
Choosing Kyrgyzstan was not mine but my family’s choice because they wanted me to be safe and in a peaceful country and live a normal life. The journey to Islamabad was the saddest for me. I was not in a good condition; the whole way I was thinking about my mother. I only remember I was with a nice and kind family on the road trip. The mother of the family said one thing which my mother also told me before leaving the country which was “it’s not the first time that we Afghans are leaving our country and immigrating to another place. Be patient and know that we will all return here and I will see you here again.”
When I arrived in Bishkek I realized everything had changed. I will never go back to Afghanistan in summers the way I used to. But, all that aside, I am so grateful to the people who helped to evacuate us; they saved many lives and many talents. I am not sure yet if I want to live in Afghanistan because I have trauma and bad memories. I avoid thinking about Afghanistan because it only gives me pain and aches my heart. I will never forget I brought my 22 years of life in one backpack. If I ever know one of my wishes will come true, I will wish my country to find peace and my people to not die from poverty and hunger.
