The return of the Taliban and Afghan women: ‘It’s the end of the world’

Her first night under Taliban rule Aisha Khurram, 22, He spent it without sleeping among the noise of bullets and the noise of planes evacuating foreigners. From Kabul Airport, a day he won’t forget: “In which Our soul and soul are shattered“.

“For the entire nation, to see how everything sank in an instant, this was the end of the world‘, admitted Monday morning time France Press agency This is the Afghan student, a few hours after the Taliban entered Kabul.

Khurram who represents Afghan youth at the United Nations, He was due to complete his studies at Kabul University in the next few months. But on Sunday morning she and her companions They were unable to re-enter the campus His future is more uncertain than ever.

“The world and Afghan leaders have abandoned the country’s youth in the harshest way imaginable“, he explains.”It is a nightmare for women who have studied, who are thinking of a better tomorrow for themselves and future generations“.

During 1996 and 2001, the Taliban imposed in the government a strict version of Islamic law prohibiting women from studying or working, leaving the home if not accompanied by a family member, and forcing them to wear the burqa (the veil is an integral part). in public.

Floggings and executions, including stoning for adultery, were common practices in city squares and stadiums.

However, the situation, especially in rural areas, did not improve significantly for women with the departure of the Taliban in 2001.

“blackbird”

The Taliban has repeatedly stressed that it will respect human rights if it returns to power in Afghanistan, emphasizing women’s rights, but in accordance with “Islamic values”.

But Afghans view these promises with suspicionEspecially those who, for two decades, were able to attend university, and held positions of responsibility, especially in politics, the press, and even in the judiciary and security forces.

in the last 24 hours, Famous women in Kabul expressed on social media their grief to see their country and their entire lives destroyed by the Taliban..

“Today I started looking at the empty streets of Kabul, feeling terrified,” writes Fawzia Kofi, a human rights activist and former deputy speaker of the Afghan parliament. “History repeats itself quickly“.

“Fear is engraved on you, like a black birdMosca Dastagir, a professor at the American University of Afghanistan, which opened five years after the Taliban left, adds. “Open your wings and you won’t be able to breathe anymore.”

‘wipe out women’

The Twitter account of Radha Akbar, a 33-year-old woman, posted a broken-hearted emoji on Monday. “My beloved Afghanistan is drowning under my eyeswrote in a letter.

In another, we see the image (already viral) of a man covered in white The image in a shop window of a smiling woman in a wedding dress.

For Akbar, this gesture shows that they seek to “erase women from public space”, because the Taliban do not allow images of women to be reproduced.

Rada Akbar, a painter and photographer, is best known for her portraits, and an affirmation of Afghanistan’s independence and heritage.

“invisible”

This year she had to organize her own exhibition honoring important Afghan women online, after receiving threats.

Monday in the morning His fear was palpable. “I want to become invisible and hide from the world”, He wrote in one of his last tweets.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “horrified” to “see how the rights of girls and women in Afghanistan are disappearing”.

One of the most famous Afghan filmmakers, Sahara Karimi, said she has no intention of leaving Afghanistan. “I will not leave my country,” he declared, wiping away his tears in a video posted on Twitter.

“Many still think it’s crazy. But Insanity is what those who have wronged our country (…) do. Stupidity is what the world has shown by turning its back on us“.

(Information from AFP / By Jerome Taylor)

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