The lively injuries of our veterans revived by the return of the Taliban |NEW VAT

Three months after the Taliban's return to the head of Afghanistan, the Canadian soldiers who fought there see their rekindled post-traumatic shock, foiled by the loss of meaning they had given to their mission, more than 10 years afterhaving left the country.

The fall of Kabul on August 15 caused a whole concussion among the soldiers who served in Afghanistan.Called to react, they almost unanimously displayed their sadness for the Afghan people left to themselves, coupled with the feeling of having given so much.

A few weeks later, while the debate on the usefulness of this costly mission remains, one thing seems clear: the images of the insurgents at the head of the country have rekindled post-traumatic stress disorder which haunts many veterans with whomThe newspaper was maintained.

Brutal shock

For some veterans, such as nurse Annie Tétreault, the shock was brutal."I broke", drop the one who was camping in the heat wave, a temperature that also recalled the Afghan climate.

For many soldiers, like Captain Hélène Leslleur, the Taliban's return has resulted in nightmare episodes and very negative thoughts.

The media coverage of events amplified by discussions on social media "taxed more and more" the soldier, who needed a "step of perspective" in the following weeks.

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Other soldiers who have practiced therapeutic avoidance by cutting out information from Afghanistan suffered the shock later, struck by reality when they believed they had a vacuum.

"It was a big ball of confusion," admits Alain Guimond who made three missions and spent a year and a half in Afghanistan.

It is also difficult to make a clean sweep of the drama of the Afghans when people are fighting for their lives on the spot.Annie Tétreault was trying to help "Tony", an Afghan interpreter who tried three times to go to the airport to leave the country.

"They stopped him every time, he was beaten, he was just not able to cross the airport limit to embark on a plane," explains the lady.

Loss of sense

Psychologists are unequivocal, taking Kabul woke up the psychological wounds of the military already tested by months of intense and repeated fighting.

"In order to be able to assimilate a traumatic event, you have to be able to give it meaning," explains psychologist Marie-Andrendrée Lavoie, of the Bravoure clinic.

The return of the Taliban, however, eliminated all the meaning they gave to their mission.Furthermore, they collided with the images of the insurgents on the scene they had conquered.

This is exactly the feeling of the artilleryman Alex Émery.

And the defense mechanisms or protective layers "do not melt at the same rate," adds Dr. Paul Simard.

Believing that the psychological wrong caused by failure in Afghanistan will have longer-term effects, we are talking about a disorder of post-traumatic stress.