Afghan Girls and Women are the Only Warriors of this Land!
After the fall of Afghanistan, everyone wanted to flee, mostly girls and women, because they knew how hard it is to live in the predicted kind of situation and under the Taliban regime. They knew what was waiting for them, including gender-based discrimination. They knew that they would lose their rights to learn, work, travel, speak, sing, dance, and face thousands of other kinds of discrimination.
In the past 20 years, from 2001 to 2021, they fought to achieve their rights to education. They fought against their culture, society, and the thoughts that the Taliban had created during their first takeover. During these 20 years, women in Afghanistan did not only fight, but they also started to stand, educate, and work with each other, and supported one another. Moreover, they found and secured their space as human beings, like in every other country, in politics, art, education, and every place.
After all the resistance work they had done, suddenly the tide changed. Every individual was worrying about their life and future, so everyone wanted to escape and survive. More than 123,000 people fled from the Kabul airport within 14 days. Also, many people escaped through the borders and other evacuation programs. It was not just escaping; it was leaving their loved ones, families, and their home country behind in a bad situation. It was not just escaping; it was securing their lives because, as previous experience showed, many people would be murdered by the Taliban just because they were singers, politicians, or artists.
Obviously, it is impossible for the whole population of a country to escape. After August 2021, Afghan girls and women were deprived of their basic rights, including education and work. They did not remain silent; they came to the streets to protest against the Taliban's announcements regarding their rights to education and work. Afghan women and girls protested to be heard by the world and by the government, but instead, they have been arrested, threatened, and silenced.
Since the Taliban came to power, the whole population has been under restricted rules that have pushed more than 80% below the poverty line. They do not have enough food to eat, and there are not many job opportunities for people to earn money and pay for their living expenses. Instead, they have illiterate and inexperienced representatives in governmental offices, who don’t even know how to use computers. Most of the women and girls in Afghanistan before August 2021 were the only breadwinners in their families, but with the Taliban's announcement, they became unemployed until the Taliban’s next decision. Not only did they become unemployed, but their families also had no other income to feed themselves. Men holding master’s and bachelor’s degrees are either unemployed or working construction jobs in neighboring countries.
Education is another significant right that has been forbidden for girls beyond 6th grade. Women and girls above 6th grade are not allowed to continue their education since the Taliban took over Kabul. Before the Taliban came to Kabul, there were roughly 4 million girls in school. But now, there are only 1.4 million girls enrolled in school across Afghanistan. This is a big loss for the whole country to have girls’ education paused for almost 4 years. The consequences might be even more destructive for the community. This pause in girls’ education cannot be repaired. Just imagine the girl who was supposed to graduate in 2021 from school—she could be graduating with a bachelor's degree next year if she were allowed to continue.
Getting permission to travel from a religious family in Afghanistan was extremely hard before the Taliban, but now it is impossible for girls and women to travel without a Mahram (a male family member), even from city to city. Girls who are still thinking about continuing their education in foreign countries are still struggling with how they could fly from the airport or cross the borders without a Mahram. Afghan girls have been trapped in the country, unable to leave.
Child marriage and forced marriages for girls are among the conditions the Taliban brought by returning to power in Afghanistan. In the 21st century, Afghanistan is the only country where women and girls are deprived of their basic rights. In history, it should be written: “Afghan women and girls are the only warriors of this land.”
References:
Afghanistan: 1.4 million girls still banned from school by de facto authorities. UNESCO.org. (2024, September 24). https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/afghanistan-14-million-girls still-banned-school-de-facto-authorities
“approximately 85 percent of Afghans live on less than one dollar a day.” UNDP. (2024, January 10). https://www.undp.org/stories/approximately-85-percent-afghans-live-less one-dollar-day
Team, T. V. J. (2021, August 31). Afghanistan: How many refugees are there and where will they go?. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58283177
About the author:
Razia Mohsini was born and raised in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan. She was in 11th grade when the Taliban returned to power. Since then, she has been a passionate advocate for women and girls, using her writing to share personal experiences and shed light on the realities of life in Afghanistan.
