Adila
عادله
(USA)
“There is a saying in Dari that when something bad happens, you feel it in your bones.”
Adila was a member of the Afghan military Female Tactical Platoon. After completing her training in Turkey, she served in Afghanistan for six years while also pursuing a degree in law.
Q1: What is a single memory or story you remember from Afghanistan?
I have many memories of Afghanistan. But I couldn’t believe the tragic event that happened a week before the country fell to the Taliban.
Mahjabin Hakimi was my friend. She had been engaged to her boyfriend for less than a year. She came to Kabul to live with him. Two weeks before the fall, she came to my house with my colleague Nadere. It was fun. We talked and laughed. But after they left, she did not call for a week. One day I was at home when her uncle called and asked, “Do you know the news about Mahjabin?” I said, “No, what happened?” He didn't say anything. He said her phone was switched off. It’s not an important matter, don’t worry. If the phone is switched off, it’s switched off. I think he knew what happened, but he didn't say anything.
I called Mahjabin many times, but her phone was indeed switched off, and her fiancé was not answering his. I called her uncle several more times, and he made excuses but did not reveal anything. There is a saying in Dari that when something bad happens, you feel it in your bones. My heart was saying that Mahjabin’s condition was not good. Mahjabin’s aunt Zahra Mohammadi and I used to live together in the same house. Besides being colleagues, we had become like a family. I felt her family was my family, and she felt my family was her family.
I called her uncle a lot. Finally, he answered and said that Mahjabin was no more. [Crying]. Then I called Mahnaz, one of my best friends, who lives in the Haji Nabi neighborhood. We went together to Mahjabin’s father-in-law’s house, but her body was not there. We asked where it was. They said she had been taken to a forensic lab. Other people were gathered, and I asked what happened. They said Mahjabin had committed suicide. But I couldn’t believe that she had committed suicide.
Her parents were there too — they had traveled from Jaghori. It was a terrible scene and everyone was crying. Her parents were crying a lot.
Later we brought Mahjabin’s body back from the forensic lab. Mahnaz and I washed her body with her mother and several others. Her whole body was black. It was clear that she did not commit suicide. She had been murdered. There was also a wound under her throat. It was clear that she was murdered. She did not commit suicide. I don’t know the reason or who was the enemy, but she was murdered.
The wound under her throat was dry. It turned out that she had been killed some time ago — her body was not fresh. One of her friends, Tayyaba, had texted her, saying she was coming to see her, and received the reply, “No, don’t.” Someone else had used her phone and responded. Now Mahjabin is gone.
Adila with her friend Mahjabin in Badakhshan, Afghanistan, 2019.
Q2: Tell us the exact moment you decided to leave Afghanistan.
I couldn't believe that we could leave Afghanistan. We applied for the SIV visa one month before Afghanistan fell. I couldn’t believe that it was happening, but I decided to apply without worrying if I would get the visa or not. My friends in the U.S. helped me complete the application online.
Mahnaz and I were colleagues, and we were the only women where we worked. On a day off, Mahnaz called to ask me what I was doing. I said I was planning to get some money from the bank and asked her to come. But even though it was only three o'clock in the afternoon, the bank was closed. So I decided to try again the next day.
The next day, we tried to go with my other friend Shafiullah. But the banks were closed everywhere we went. We were in the middle of the city when we heard that the Taliban had come. We walked from Shahranu to Kote Sangi. From there we found a Tunis vehicle and went to Berchi. The whole of Kabul was terrified. Everyone was running everywhere. People had not seen the Taliban yet, but they all were scared.
I arrived home. My friends who were in the U.S. asked me if I was safe or not. Then they told me, “Do not leave the house until we say.” It took them two or three days to get back to me, but after they did, we went to the airport — my friend Mahnaz, my brother, and I.
It was my first time going to the airport. There were several exterior gates. When we went to one gate, they told us to go to another. There were 01 Unit Police Force officers. They were speaking Pashto, which I don’t understand.
We stayed outside the airport from morning to night. We entered the airport very late, at half past one in the morning. My brother didn’t want to go in, but I forced him. And though I didn’t know the language, I had copies of my documents. When I showed them, I was let in, but my friends who didn’t have documents were kicked out through another gate. At this point, the only familiar thing was the sky. We were exhausted and walking among all the other people inside the airport.
We were in the airport for three nights. People were saying there would be no more flights. I thought it was over. At night, we slept on the plastic next to other girls to keep warm. We were disappointed. We waited. Several times we were told that a plane was coming. On the day they said the plane had arrived, I couldn’t believe it. I believed only once we got on board. It was the happiest moment of my life. I did not care about my life but, if I had stayed and they had killed me, my parents would have suffered a great deal.
We flew toward Qatar and when we arrived it was very hot. Some people even fainted. But I realized that we were saved, nothing else mattered. Still, Afghanistan and its people would not leave my mind. People there were suffering and are still suffering.
Adila in Kabul, 2017.
FTPs base in Kabul, 2016.
Q3: What is something important that you brought with you? Or what is something you wanted to bring but could not?
I could not bring my computer from Afghanistan. It has photos of my friends from my time in the military. All my memories are on that computer, my good photos. Everything was inside it. I wanted to bring it, but I was told not to bring anything.
Q4: If you could send a message that will be heard in thirty years, what would it be?
Appreciate the present. Everything becomes a memory. You should appreciate the moment.
Adila in Band-e-Amir, Bamyan, 2020.
Adila in Arizona, 2022.
“Make sure that you contribute to the development of the country. That country is ours. Afghanistan is ours and we all have an obligation to contribute to its development. So, contribute however you wish, but do it with honesty and to the best of your ability.”