Dr Claire Fotheringham remembers Afghanistan as a welcoming place, a place very close to her heart. 

The Australian obstetrician spent five months working at MSF’s maternity hospital in Khost, a conflict hotspot near the Pakistan border, in 2015, before returning as a medical advisor overseeing projects in the cities of Kabul and Herat.

“The city and the hospital where I worked and lived were normally under government control, and the outlying areas were normally under Taliban control,” she tells Australian Doctor.

“There was quite a strong local council of elders that had a lot of power in both places. And so it was important to make sure we were treating people in a very neutral way.