Few of us will easily forget those images. The masses of desperate Afghans running along the tarmac and away from the Taliban, their insignificance accentuated by the enormity of the aircraft that enshadowed them. Very few residents of Kabul wrestled themselves aboard a plane in those last, frenzied hours before the US officially withdrew from Afghanistan in August of 2021.
For those who did, for every miraculous tale of escape, a thousand more were left behind, to stay silent and hidden until the day came and the dust settled. Until it was safe enough for them to be written.
