Afghanistan Oral History
A Mother's Account of the Dasht-e-Barchi Attack
Fatima Rezaie recounts the devastating suicide bombing at the Mawoud Academy educational center in Dasht-e-Barchi, Kabul, on August 15, 2018. She describes the morning her daughter left for her university entrance exam preparation class and never returned. Fatima details the chaotic hours that followed — the frantic phone calls, the overwhelmed hospitals, and the moment she identified her daughter's belongings among the wreckage. She reflects on the Hazara community's resilience in the face of repeated targeted attacks, the failure of security forces to protect civilians, and the lasting psychological impact on families who lost children that day.
A Surgeon's Testimony
Dr. Abdul Wahab Mohammadi provides a harrowing first-person account of the U.S. airstrike on the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) trauma center in Kunduz on October 3, 2015. As a surgeon on duty that night, he describes the moment the first bomb hit, the desperate attempts to move patients to safety, and the decision to continue operating by flashlight as the building burned around them. He discusses the aftermath — the international outcry, the investigation, and what he calls the 'hollow apology' — and reflects on the destruction of the only trauma center serving northeastern Afghanistan.
From Bamiyan to Quetta and Back Again
Mariam Hussaini traces four decades of displacement that began when Soviet forces destroyed her family's village in Bamiyan province in 1983. She describes the journey to Pakistan as a child, growing up in Quetta's Hazara enclave, surviving the targeted killings of Hazaras in Balochistan, and her eventual return to Afghanistan in 2005 — only to be displaced again after the Taliban's return in 2021. Her testimony captures the cyclical nature of conflict and displacement that has defined the Afghan experience across generations.
When American Forces Came to Our Village
Khan Mohammad Wardak recounts the devastating night raid by U.S. Special Forces on his family compound in Wardak province in February 2013. He describes being woken by explosions, the killing of his brother and nephew who were mistaken for combatants, and the aftermath of filing complaints through Afghan government channels with no resolution. His account illuminates the human cost of counterinsurgency operations and the erosion of trust between rural communities and international forces.
A Student's Memory of the Sayed ul-Shuhada School Attack
Zahra Ahmadi was a tenth-grade student at the Sayed ul-Shuhada school in Dasht-e-Barchi, Kabul, when a series of car bombs exploded outside the school gates on May 8, 2021, killing at least 90 people, mostly schoolgirls. She describes the blast that threw her across the classroom, waking up surrounded by her injured classmates, and the long recovery from shrapnel wounds. Her testimony addresses the targeting of Hazara educational institutions, the resilience of female students who returned to school despite threats, and the ultimate closure of girls' schools after the Taliban takeover just three months later.
Documenting War While Living It
Noor Ahmad Noori spent twenty years as a journalist covering the Afghan conflict for local and international media. He discusses the impossible ethical choices of conflict journalism — deciding which atrocities to cover, negotiating access with armed groups, and carrying the weight of stories he witnessed but couldn't change. He recounts specific incidents including the 2016 attack on the American University of Afghanistan, the collapse of Ghazni city in 2018, and the final days before the Taliban takeover. His testimony is a reflection on the role of media in conflict zones and the personal cost of bearing witness.
