The Taliban (so called Jihadist) took power in Afghanistan in the blink of an eye and bluntly destroyed millions of hopes, dreams and plans of Afghan Youths especially Afghan women and girls.
Witnessing all these sudden changes in a country in a matter of a few days is perplexing and unbelievable. We hoped for change but unfortunately that was not the case. The Taliban had been fighting against the Afghan government and foreign forces for many years in different parts of the country. However, they intensified their fight against the Afghan government as the foreign forces withdrew from Afghanistan and swiftly captured one province after another and then stormed to the capital Kabul City. Seeing the Taliban on Kabul streets was a sudden shock for Afghan People in general and Kabul residents, as they had already badly experienced the Taliban’s presence in 2000. All Afghan deemed their dreams of happy lives without freedom where they are supposed to abide by the Sharia laws (Taliban’s extreme Sharia Law) which means women and girls are bound to their homes. Further, under this law, women are not allowed to go to schools, have jobs, or walk outside alone and this is beyond expectations. On the other hand, they have narrowed down the way for other religious minorities to have freedom of expression as they have declared their own the only true and legal and should be practiced throughout the country.
The short clips and terrifying images of people in the airport while evacuating foreign troops could show how people desperately fight for a happy life and how they detest the Taliban where they have abandoned their houses, properties, goods and other belongings just to be somewhere other than Afghanistan with the Taliban. Even some of the people there lost their lives and some lost their sweet and dearest family members.
A few months ago, they banned entry for female teachers of Kabul University at the campus premises. Later on, they announced that girls cannot go to school anymore and hold a job where the only glorious achievements of the previous (so called) democratic government in the past 20 years was the investment on girls education and women empowerment. But the Taliban put an end to all these efforts in a few minutes.
I, as part of the young generation, will continue to fight for my sister’s right to education and employment, so they may have the opportunity to one day even hold seats in politics. I believe that the power of pen and knowledge is far more powerful than the violent power of guns and grenades. Any leader in office should respect human dignity and should adapt to the development and innovation of the 21st century where men and women are equal in dignity.
Published: January 3, 2021
This blog post was written by WYA Asia Pacific Intern Alumnus Rahmatulla. Want to become an intern of WYA Asia Pacific? Visit bit.ly/aponlineinternship today!
