The Taliban can be seen roaming the streets from outside of people’s homes armed with their machine guns. Many LGBTQ people I’m in contact with believe that the Taliban will start hunting them down, especially once the US and the international community make their final exit and the last evacuation plane has left. One young gay Afghan man who goes by the nickname Ahmadullah, who had previously had his father and youngest brother killed by the Taliban, is devastated as his boyfriend got executed the same day that they rolled into Kabul this week. Ahmadullah was with his boyfriend and he urged him to go home. When Ahmadullah didn’t hear back from his boyfriend, he found out from a mutual connection, that his lover was beheaded by the Taliban because they noticed he was effeminate and recognised he could be a homosexual. Ahmadullah also can’t reach any of his other LGBTQ friends and believes they have either gone into hiding and are scared to trust anyone or they are missing. The LGBTQ community had no legal status for the past 20 years under President Hamid Karzai or President Ashraf Ghani’s reign, and still had to conceal their gender identity and sexual orientation out of fear of honour violence from their family, being beaten or harassed by society, or fined and raped by the Afghan National Police if they found out who they were. Despite these challenges, an underground LGBTQ community flourished, meeting in small groups at hookah bars, karaoke lounges or in the privacy of their homes. They disproportionately flocked to careers in the media and were the cultural makers, creating soap operas and talk shows that touched on taboo subjects, and contests where women sang on stage without a head covering.