I had a student from Afghanistan a few yrs ago. When he’d come to my office, despite the noisy hallway, we’d have to leave the door open. He explained that since being kidnapped by the Taliban and being tortured in a room for two weeks, he can’t be in a room w a closed door.
He lived w roommates, but he could never close his bedroom door because the panic would immediately overtake him. It had been years since his family had paid the ransom and negotiated his release- the physical scars had healed, but the invisible scars were much deeper.
At the end of the term he brought me a wool scarf. He asked his father to send it. A beautiful traditional Pashtun color and pattern. He was such a lovely young man. Two weeks. Two weeks is what it took for the Taliban to ruin the rest of his life.
What’s most jarring and what needs to be highlighted here is that he was very PRIVILEGED. He was a man. His family had money. He had a good education. He grades were good enough that he was able to come study at a college in Canada. His story is a fairy tale compared to others.
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