The US has shut the door on Afghanistan,
but the women we helped get an education are speaking out.
A young Afghan woman in Kabul says, “Now I have to burn everything I achieved.” She tells of seeing all around her the “fearful faces of women and ugly faces of men who hate women.”:
Anonymous double degree-student, American-Kabul university:
“I have nearly completed two simultaneous degrees from two of the best universities in Afghanistan. I should have graduated in November from the American University of Afghanistan and Kabul University, but this morning. . . the first thing my sisters and I did was hide our IDs. Diplomas, and certificates. It was devastating. . . All I could see around me were the fearful and scared faces of women and ugly faces of men who hate women. Most devastating were the ones who looked happy and made fun of women. . .
Afghan women sacrificed a lot for the little freedom they had. As an orphan I weaved carpets just to get an education. . . Now it looks like I have to burn everything I achieved in 24 years of my life. Having any ID card or awards from the American University is risky now; even if we keep them, we are not able to use them. There are no jobs for us. . . I was part of a group of American University students that tried to help [refuges in parks] by collecting donations of cash, food and other necessities and distributing it to them. I could not stop my tears when I heard stories of some families. One had lost their son in the war and didn’t have any money to pay the taxi fare to Kabul, so they gave their daughter-in-law away in exchange for transportation. How can the value of a woman be equal to the cost of a journey?
. . .They can play with my life any way they want. I also worked at an English language education centre. I cannot bear to think that I can no longer stand in front of the class, teaching them to sing their ABCs. Every time I remember that my beautiful little girl students should stop their education and stay at their home, my tears fall.”*
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Anonymous bilingual female journalist:
While a bilingual female interviewer questioned a Taliban leader, who said in broken English that Afghan females would be allowed to continue at school and work with face coverings, in the background Taliban duplicitously chanted “Death to America” in their native Dari tongue.
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Somaye Sarvarzade, master’s degree, Stanford University:
When Somaye Sarvarzade fled with her mother, when she was a month-old baby carried on the back of a motorcycle from her hometown Herat in western Afghanistan. She lived some years in Iran, and while working with UNICEF became a living example that higher education (including a master’s degree from Stanford), a career, and a life of one’s own was possible. She returned to Afghanistan, and then fled to the US when threatened in 2020. From her home in Virginia, Somaye remains terrified for her mother, who is in her 60’s, and lives in Herat, and her brothers in Kabul. In Somaye’s hometown of Herat, now controlled by the Taliban’s sudden sweep, her cousins told her the day before the fall of Kabul they were not allowed into the university.**
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Malala Yousafazi, YouTuber:
Malala Yousafzai, now in her twenties, survived an assassination attempt in 2012 and is deeply worried about the safety, rights, protection, and access to schools for women. She wrote a letter to the President of Pakistan pleading for refugees, saying that children and innocents are the people who have suffered the most.***
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Sherilyn Faith, US writer:
Born a US citizen, I received the opportunity to acquire multiple degrees to teach in universities and educational institutions. While on campus in 1996, I observed American students protesting Afghan women’s rights by wearing dark hijabs and burjas. Their silent posture said more about oppression than any words could. Artist installations also included figures of women shrouded in hijabs and burjas. Cruelty is cyclical. Again, women won’t have a voice. Certainly not in the new Afghanistan.
Afghan female students and workers will be subservient to the “mujahhideen” (Taliban fighters) who’ll receive one or more wives from a list of single women and widows under a certain age. Many women, including some who are new Jesus followers, will be trafficked as sex slaves, bear Taliban children, and be killed. The Taliban “modus operandi” is to threaten to harm citizens who don’t give them lists of neighbors who’ve worked for the US or allies. They require regular Muslim prayer, and Christians are spotted for their exclusion. Then Taliban conduct mafia-type, mass executions-Sharia Law tactics. ****
“Don’t forget the ladies,” said Abigail Adams. With proper foresight, the US would’ve organized the departure of threatened females, US and allies, (some on Christian and humanitarian missions.) When you consider the abandonment to uncertain fates of these Afghan, American, British, French, etc. girl and women hostages, just embarking on their educational and career paths, we expect far better. All we can do is pray for those left behind.
* The Guardian, 8/15/21
* * The Washington Post, 8/18/21, Aisha Wahaab
* * * YouTube. Malala Yousafzai. 8/18/21
* * * * Persecution.com, 8/17/21
