More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Despite much anticipation, the Taliban regime announced today that girls’ schools from grades 7-12 will remain closed. Devastated teachers and students did not know about the announcement until they arrived at their schools had to return home.
In speaking with the BBC, one in Kabul student said, “I feel really hopeless for my future. I don’t see a bright future for myself. All we want is to go to school.”
In late February, the Taliban launched a house-to-house search operation called “search and clear,” supposedly to address rising crime in Kabul. The house searches have terrorized Afghans, reminding them of the harrowing experiences of the past house searches by former governments.
The United Nations has raised concerns over the arrests and detentions of civil society activists, journalists, former government and security forces personnel in Afghanistan. For example, on Jan. 19, a video circulating on social media showed Tamana Zaryab Paryani, an Afghan women’s rights activist and journalist, pleading for help moments before armed men claiming to be Taliban intelligence broke into her apartment and abducted her and three of her sisters. Paryani recorded the video on her phone while the men were pounding on her door, “Help, please, the Taliban have come to our home … only my sisters are [here].”
Afghanistan’s first female lieutenant general, Suhaila Siddiq, died on Dec. 4 at Daoud Khan military hospital in Kabul—the same hospital where she served as one of the top surgeons in the country for 36 years.
“After one especially deadly attack, she performed surgery for 24 hours straight. When a patient desperately needed a pint of blood one day, she donated it herself.”
Afghan mothers will have their names printed on their children’s national identity cards, thanks to the #WhereIsMyName campaign, which challenged taboos around women’s names.
President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday signed into law an amendment long sought by women’s rights campaigners.
Until now, Afghan law dictated that only the father’s name should be recorded on ID cards.
Using a woman’s name in public in Afghanistan is traditionally frowned upon and can be considered an insult.
Gaining a seat on the UNCSW is one of many achievements that Afghan women have made during the last two decades. Despite the threats, harassment, and attacks, Afghan women have made progress, from participating in presidential and provincial elections to winning a seat in parliament.
“With the pandemic and the world shifting their attention from Afghanistan, I worry that once again, Afghan women will fall into dark times. We must do what we can to prevent that from happening.”
Twenty-five-year-old Marzia Akbar is part of a small group of female psychologists. Her team runs a covert counseling clinic at a local hospital in the Herat province and have helped many victims of domestic abuse. But Herat’s stay-at-home order has caused Akbari’s team to lose contact with most of their clients.
If a large number of Afghan women are unable to study, work and reach their full potential, it is not because they are weak. It is because our society has placed in their ways the largest roadblocks.
Charles Randolph Wright’s powerful Love In Afghanistan examines many of the complicated issues facing young Afghan women. The play, which recently completed a world premiere run at the Arena Stage […]
