Real Life Story Of Orooj Hakimi, An Afghan Journalist !

Real Life Story Of Orooj Hakimi

Narrated to Mahabahu by Orooj Hakimi

Orooj Hakimi, an Afghan Journalist

For readers of Mahabahu, here is Orooj:

The Renewed Boundaries of Being Indigenous : Indigenous Values Vs Modern Values

March 20, 2025

After the collapse of Afghanistan, I was in my own country, for a month, but like a criminal, I had to live in a secret place, but now I have become an anonymous immigrant with a world of new worries!

After the fall of Kabul, I tried 4 times to leave the country.

On the first day, on August 17, I went to the Kabul Airport with my parents. I was wearing a burqa so as not to be recognized. What I saw behind the gates of Kabul airport cannot be expressed in words!

I was scared alot and my whole body was shacking, I was holding my parents’ hand to help them not to fall on the ground, we were faced with direct firing from the Taliban, they shot a young man in front of my eyes, who was trying to enter the airport gate with his family, I can’t forget that day at all, it’s like a nightmare, it’s been almost a year since that incident. But it is still fresh in my mind.

Real Life Story Of Orooj Hakimi, An Afghan Journalist !

Finally, about a month after the fall of Kabul, I was able to leave Kabul with my parents, I cried during the flight, which was about 55 minutes! It was a very bitter day, that even now I am in tears when I tell the story!

I couldn’t believe I would become a refugee again and be far from my homeland!

25 years ago, when I was a child, I tasted the bitter taste of being refugee, during the first period of the Taliban.

I still remember the difficult days of immigration and my childhood!

For five years, we wove carpets with my siblings. My childhood was destroyed because of the Taliban. Instead of going to school and playing with children, we used to wake up at early in the morning and weave carpets until evening even in hot days of summer, to be alive!

We had no one to support us financially, so it was our own responsibility to work hard and support our family!

25 year ago, we left everything behind and left Kabul, to save my father’s life, and this time, after 20 years, we had to leave all our belongings, house, my sisters, my relatives and my homeland again to save our lives! Along the way, I was thinking about the hardships of immigration and I couldn’t stop my tears! It is difficult to bear the distance from the homeland, and it is even more difficult to be away from the family!

Finally after three months of living in Pakistan, the Canadian government issued visa for me, but not for my parents until now! I had to move Canada in September 2021, with thousands of worries for my old and sick parents!

Well, I realized that my problems have just started instead of diminishing one by one, I finally arrived in Canada, and I spent six months wandering and without fate to find a way for my parents to get a visa and a solution for my sisters who are stuck in dire situation in Kabul just because of the nature of my job they are in danger too, and I hoped that all these hardships end, but it didn’t work, unfortunately!

So when I contacted my mother’s doctors, they told me that my mother’s health condition is critical, so I decided to return to Pakistan; now it’s been about 45 days since I returned to my parents!

Since the collapse of Afghanistan until now, I have not breathed a single day! Yes ,now I am in a safer place compared to Afghanistan, but I am still facing an unknown future and I am even unemployed! When

I was going to Canada, I was thinking that I could build a new and more peaceful life for myself and my family in a safe corner, but it hasn’t happened so far unfortunately!

Everything has changed in Afghanistan in a negative way! Women are being eliminated from society, freedom of expression has fallen to zero, it has been more than 300 days since girls’ schools are banned, unemployment and poverty have reached their peak, where families even sell their children, underage marriage has increased.

The genocide of Hazaras and Tajiks, especially targeted killings in Panjshir, Andarab, and Balkhab, continues, the market for opium cultivation and trafficking has once again boomed, our underground resources are cruelly smuggled to neighboring countries!

The economic system is paralyzed, unemployment has reached its peak, the medical system has collapse, hospitals and clinics are facing a shortage of female doctors and nurses. This is just some example of negative changes that have occurred!

My sisters and their kids have been in Afghanistan despite facing severe threats, and some of my friends have reached countries such as Iran, Denmark, Kyrgyzstan, and Canada, but some are still in Afghanistan!

“There is no freedom of expression and media freedom, everything is censored in the current media in Afghanistan! What is happening in Afghanistan, and the calamity that has befallen these people and this country, the media is not allowed to publish it! At the moment, the funeral of freedom of expression has been read in Afghanistan!”

Right now it’s even difficult to imagine, because the living conditions of women are painful in Afghanistan, but yes I wish I could return to my country one day without any fear and I will cover stories on freedom and peace, I will show the beauties of my homeland to the world via my stories, not violence and war!

This is a great wish I will pray for as long as I live to come true!

After the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan has once again become a prisone for women, they did a shamefull deal with the lives of Afghan women in fact!

There are no more women in government offices, they have to work in the media with their faces covered, schools are closed for our girls, in general, women are disappointed, but they try to continue their struggle and fight for their rights! Some women were even imprisoned, this bravery of Afghan women should not be ignored! Well, under the new Taliban regime, there will be no place or value for women as we see!

I have many friends who are currently working with some media in Afghanistan, but they are facing unfortunate conditions, and they are impatiently waiting to find a way and leave the homeland!

There is no freedom of expression and media freedom, everything is censored in the current media in Afghanistan! What is happening in Afghanistan, and the calamity that has befallen these people and this country, the media is not allowed to publish it!

At the moment, the funeral of freedom of expression has been read in Afghanistan!

Unlucky, Afghanistan is facing a very ambiguous and complicated future. More than 21 extremist groups were active in Afghanistan before the fall of Kabul. Now think about how many other terrorist groups will be active with the Taliban takeover, which itself is a terrorist group.

If the world underestimates the Taliban, not only it will be a problem for the countries of the region, but it will be a big problem for the countries of the world, have they forgotten the incident of September 11?

Worse than that, more terrible events may happen!

I ask the countries that promised cooperation to save vulnerable Afghans to fulfill their promises, my family and I are struggling with such an unknown fate, and like me, thousands of journalists, women’s rights activists, and there are employees of government offices, especially from Attorny General office, who are facing the risk of losing their lives, so don’t leave us alone!

I ask the international community not to recognize the Taliban and save Afghanistan from the clutches of terrorist groups! Because this is for their own benefit!

I am hopeful and looking forward to the day when I will see Afghanistan and its people, especially women, free again!

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