Public interest can change

I can’t add anything to the heartbreaking pictures from Kabul.

I have, however, been thinking deeply about how dramatically and tragically a public narrative can change and wane.

I was in Afghanistan twice in 2011 as a television correspondent for Channel Seven.

We helped tell the stories of how Australian troops were fulfilling an unshirkable obligation to provide protection and change lives.

It seemed critically important. What they were doing mattered to the public in Australia.

I can’t reconcile how that somehow slipped from the public’s interest, at least until desperate scenes of thousands scrambling from Kabul appeared on our screens.

I was based with Australian troops on patrol in the Chora Valley and again in Kabul and Kandahar with the Americans later in the year.

On our second assignment, we covered the deaths of three Australian soldiers.

It was easy to be proud of the Australian Defence Force, to be in awe of their sacrifice and the work they were doing to help secure and rebuild Afghanistan.

I’m sure it’s hard for them to watch what’s happening now and understand how public commitment to their mission changed over time, prior to their withdrawal.

These pictures are two of my memories, the first with locals in the Chora Valley.

The second, a rainbow appearing over their beautiful landscape in the middle of a warzone.