In May 2021, the Taliban launched an offensive following the announcement that US and NATO troops would withdraw from Afghanistan after 20 years. Town by town, city by city, the Taliban made rapid advancements, retaking areas they had not controlled since the late 1990s. On the morning of August 15, the republic government collapsed and the Taliban advanced onto the capital. At the same time, a Hazara mother – part of a minority that was persecuted and massacred during the last Taliban reign – lay in a Kabul hospital giving birth. A year later, she writes to the son born as their old life shattered around them.
My baby,
