What will happen to Afghan women under Taliban rule? – Wired PR Lifestyle Story

Yesterday, I imagine you too were caught up in the news, as the Taliban took control of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. People fled the house to hide, or tried desperately to escape, even clinging to the wings of the planes that were leaving.

In Chaos, the New York Times Daily podcast He communicated with R., a 33-year-old Afghan woman living in Kabul.

“My country is falling to its knees, and no one is taking any action,” he cried on the recorder. “The whole world is fair seeing“.

As it got worse, he described the fall of Kabul: “For the world, it’s just a falling city, but for me it’s not just a city … Thousands of souls are falling. Millions of dreams are falling. Our history, our culture, our art, our beauty, our lives fall apart ”.

Of course, as R. points out, there is a lot to lose. In the last 20 years since they defeated the Taliban in late 2001, Afghan women have achieved an extraordinary number. They have graduated from universities and graduate schools; Direct candidate for Parliament; owned bakeries, salons and shops; he worked as a doctor, ambassador, journalist, banker, minister, the list goes on.

Now, once again under Taliban rule, what will life be like for these women and girls? In the 1990s and early 2000s, when the Taliban were already in power, women had to wear burqa in public. Women could not go out without male relatives. Women were not allowed to work outside the home. Women were not allowed to go to school after they were 8 years old. Women were forbidden to vote. Some women and girls were forced to marry. These rules, in particular, made women prisoners in their homes.

“Maybe the silence of Taliban life is more than anything with me,” wrote photojournalist Lynsey Addario, who has covered Afghanistan for two decades. Atlantic. “There were few cars, music, TV, phones and conversation on the sidewalks. The dusty streets were crowded with widows who had lost their husbands in the long war; they were forbidden to work, the only way to survive was to beg. People were scared, inside and outside the house. Those who were brave enough to speak in quiet voices, afraid of being beaten by the Taliban for beating something with a long beard (for a man) or a long burqa (for a woman) that was not easy enough, or sometimes for nothing ”.

Come back again Daily podcast, R. Afghans deplored the progress of women over the past 20 years. “We just forgot about the sacrifices, about the things we worked so hard for,” she cried. “Now it’s just a matter of saving lives.”

But some hold on to hope. “The Taliban are taking over the territory,” said Afghan activist Shukriya Barakzai Addario, “But not people’s hearts and minds.”

If you can, please join us to give Women for Afghan Women, a grassroots civil society organization that aims to protect and promote the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. A reader named Hanna advised the journalist to follow suit Stefanie Glinski On Twitter. Please share other ways to help, if you are familiar with this area. Thank you. xo

(Photo of a yoga class in Kabul on Saturday Kiana Hayeri / The New York Times.)