My knees ached after fifteen minutes of squatting by the wall of the Afghan Government office.

The Afghans waiting in the long line didn’t seem to mind squatting in that position for hours, but I gave up and awkwardly stood. I had arrived an hour before the office opened to make it in before they stopped taking visa applications.

Why was this line so long?

Everyone around me was applying for an Afghan passport—so many, in fact, that the passport director had come out of the office several times to give long talks to the crowd about how to apply. These nuggets of information were carefully collected and would be passed on to other aspiring applicants.

These are the people trying to leave the country. And these are only the ones trying to do it legally.

Afghans are worried and bordering on the edge of hopelessness. The economy is struggling and jobs are dwindling as the deluge of foreign money comes to an end. Recent attacks by the Taliban have doubled worry and families hold off on purchases, making things worse. People who are struggling to feed their families are more susceptible to give in to bribes from the Taliban, or to accept wages as guerilla fighters, or to resist inevitable changes in the wind.

The recent—and short-lived—takeover of Kunduz, a province in the north of Afghanistan, stirred up fears that the Taliban would sweep all across the north. But the overall change of territory has been small. Some areas already on the edge of toppling have fallen over. Others that have changed hands in the past do it more often now.

After a tense week, things seemed to move back into equilibrium. As we suspected, the Taliban still don’t have the muscle to keep major cities and routes.

In the middle of all of this, we continue our ministry. We are watching the reports closely, consulting with others in the region, and double-checking our contingency plans. We pray, watch, and listen.

Most importantly, we wonder what God is up to, and how this instability builds His Kingdom. Here’s what we know to do:

• Pray that God uses this instability to soften people’s hearts, to draw towards Him those who are already seeking.
• Pray that it removes a false sense of hope and salvation by money and democracy.
• Pray for our wisdom—both in understanding what God is up to and knowing how to react to our shifting environment.
• Pray against our fear—that we would remember the secure Rock on which our feet are set (Psalm 40:2), and for Afghans to discover the peace of standing there with us.

**This account comes from a long-term worker. Details have been changed for security.**

Original article: FrontiersUSA.org/blog/article/secure-in-afghanistan