‘We Have No Rights’: An Open Letter from an Afghan Girl Living in Fear

My name is Suraya Mohammadi, a girl living in the heart of Afghanistan, a country under Taliban rule. I write this letter with a heart full of pain and hope, a letter that aims to be the voice of all Afghan girls, girls who are enduring an imposed and cruel silence.

Since the day the Taliban regained power, my life and the lives of thousands of other girls have turned into a nightmare. We have been deprived of going to school and continuing our education, from working and having a bright future. Every day, I look out of the small window of my house and wish that I could go back to school, open my books again, and dream of becoming a doctor, an engineer, or a lawyer. But sadly, these dreams have now turned into a nightmare we experience while awake.