Living Through a Nightmare — by Mahtab

Note: We’ve worked with Mahtab via the Afghan Women’s Writing Project. As the project is on hiatus Mahtab has asked us to share her first-person account of surviving the terrorist attack on the American University of Afghanistan. This is Mahtab’s account, written by her. — N.A., K.M., & S.P.L.

On August 24th, the night of the terrorist attack on American University in Kabul, I went to school as usual. My class finished at 6:20 pm, and when I left the room, I saw some of my friends and talked with them for a short time. Everything seemed well, and gradually students went to attend their next class.

My friend, Hadisa, and I decided to go to the dormitory because we didn’t have class. The dormitory is in front of our university. When I arrived, it was around 6:40 pm and I was preparing for prayer when I heard a huge sound. The windows vibrated and rattled, the room became dark and filled with dust. I was scared and searched for my mobile and called my brother and told him in a frightened voice that I was ok but didn’t don’t know what was going on.

When I looked outside, I saw that it was a suicide attack. After that we heard gun fire so we escaped into the basement. We were safe somehow. Girls were crying and screaming and calling their families to tell them they were safe. I called my friend who was in the university. She was crying and said she and the other students were in the classroom and the terrorists were in the corridors. I tried to reassure her that she would stay safe and make it out alive.

We all grew quiet and just listened to the gun fire that was on the campus and I thought it might be the end. Suddenly, three girls came to the dorm. They were screaming and couldn’t speak at first then one of them said in a weak voice that they had thrown themselves down from the second floor. They had broken bones in their arms and legs. After an hour an ambulance took them to the hospital.

It was dark and most of us were silent with just a few still crying and calling their families to help them, but the situation was so dangerous no one could go outside. I checked the time on my phone. It was 10 pm but still we could hear fighting. I called my friend again. She was safe now but added that when she and the other students were escaping, a Talib threw a bomb behind them so she had injuries to her knee and hand from shrapnel. I couldn’t do anything except pray to Allah.

Time passed too slowly, and the night was too long. We spent the whole night with fear.

It was 4:00 am before the guard announced that the terrorists were killed, that the police had cleared every room and the students who had been locked in classes were safe now. But seven students, one teacher and some police were killed. It was hard to tolerate the loss of our friends. They came to the university with thousands of hopes for getting an education and making a bright future for themselves and Afghanistan. But now they are under the soil with all their wishes.

We live in Afghanistan and war is a part of our life so we need to stay strong. Although it was a traumatic night that I will never forget a moment of, we won’t stop! We will continue on our paths, strive for peace and make Afghanistan a better place to live.