The rise to power of the extremist Islamic Taliban in Afghanistan raised fears about what will happen to women’s rights in the country. Circumstances have been torn apart.
Zahra was a spy in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, until a year ago. Now he has covered his face with a mask for safety reasons. He doesn’t even want his real name published.
The woman uses the name Zahra. She is a 32-year-old single mother who used to work for the intelligence service of the former Afghan government. In August 2021, the extremist Islamic Taliban took over Kabul.
That day is well remembered by Zahra – it completely changed her and many other women’s lives.
A year ago, at ten in the morning on August 15, the computers in the office were suddenly shut down and employees were asked to destroy important documents. Then they were sent home.
Zahra hid in her home with her 8-year-old daughter. As an employee of the intelligence service, he felt that he was in danger. Yet after only a few days he slowly ventured out again. Many did not know Zahra’s real profession. And the Taliban hadn’t come knocking on the door either.
After the Taliban came to power, many of the women who worked for the administration have had to stay at home. Former employees of the Ministry of the Interior – including women – have still been allowed to return to their jobs. This gives small glimmers of hope to Zahra.
According to Zahra, the women of the intelligence service have still not been invited back.
Now the single mother sews women’s clothes at home for work.
– I used to be able to save money. I used my savings for a really long time. The money I get from sewing is really small. It doesn’t cover all my expenses.
The future is unclear
Thinking about the last year brings bitter tears to Zahra’s eyes. Only memories remain of my former life as a spy.
– I joined the security service to fight the enemy. I wanted to hold a gun in my hand and go to war, he says.
The future of Zahra’s daughter is also uncertain, even though she is still young. Public school doors have remained closed to girls from the seventh grade up.
– I hope that the situation will change and women can return to their jobs and girls to school again, Zahra says and wipes away her tears. The daughter looks at her mother in amazement.
Zahra lives in western Kabul, where there are many people on the streets even though there have been several attacks by the terrorist organization ISIS in the area. The area is home to the Shiite Hazara minority. Zahra is Hazara too.
You can see a lot of women on the streets here compared to some other parts of the city, and most of them wear just a scarf – not a full-body burqa or niqab. Although in May the Taliban asked women to cover their faces, in practice the rule has not been enforced except on TV channels and government workplaces.
Most of the Taliban’s regulations specifically apply to women, and they have suffered the most from the rules even in the most liberal areas. Among other things, the Taliban has ordered that women are no longer allowed to travel long distances without a male relative. There is no room for women in the government, and many no longer see a future under the Taliban regime.
Zahra’s story is just one of many in Afghanistan. Just a stone’s throw from Kabul, in the neighboring province of Maidan Wardak, the war and the rise of the Taliban were experienced from a very different perspective.
Laalbasrin life has calmed down since the Taliban came to power. She is a 40-year-old woman who has given birth to eight children. Laalbasr lives with his family in Jawasiab village in Nerkh district, which is known for apple orchards, airstrikes and foreign special forces operations.
For the past 20 years, women like Laalbasri have been left almost completely without a voice. In the past, it was not easy to travel to war zones and the narrative of the war remained one-sided.
The bombing stopped after the Taliban came to power
Laasbasr’s son died in an airstrike four to five years ago during Ramadan. In rural areas, people usually don’t even know their exact date of birth, let alone keep track of the passage of time.
The mother believes that the airstrike was done by the United States. However, it could also be the Afghan air force, which, along with the Americans, carried out attacks in the region in the later years of the war.
The Laalbasri family’s experience explains their attitude to the Taliban’s rise to power.
The family woke up in the middle of the night to the sounds of shelling.
– All the windows and gates were broken. My son was hit and he fell to the ground, Laalbasr remembers.
Laalbasr ran in terror towards his injured son, who let out one last hoarse cry from his mouth. Bombs were still exploding all around.
– My son had been hit in the chest and the bones in his arms had been broken in many places. The hands were only held by the skin, says Laalbasr.
After a while, the shelling also stopped.
The boy was buried the next day. Other villagers came to help clean up the traces of destruction.
Laalbasr says neither his son nor other family members had anything to do with the Taliban.
Nerkhi district came under Taliban control already in May last year.
Now, according to Laalbasri, most of the villagers are at least partly happy.
– Previously, no one could go out after sunset, because they would have been targeted by airstrikes. People are happy with peace. A little peace has come into our lives; days and nights have calmed down.
The economic situation, on the other hand, has worsened since the Taliban came to power. Laalbasri’s family often lives in hunger, just like other people in the area.
– The Taliban no longer cares about poor people, he says.
Urban women’s experiences of Taliban rule sound foreign to Laalbasri’s ears, even though she does not admit to being a supporter of the Taliban.
– Maybe somewhere there are women who want the right to work. Here, women don’t want these rights because they don’t have the opportunity to get into office. They just live in their homes in complete silence and that’s it. They live according to Allah and the Quran.
Laalbasri’s daughters have not gone to school.
– In the beginning, it was not common for girls to go to school and there were no schools here. Later, when the schools were built, the Taliban came back. They said girls shouldn’t go to school. The situation was really bad (because of the war), and the girls couldn’t leave their homes anyway.
Now the Laalbasri family has moved to another house. The old one was destroyed first by bombing, then by floods. He has not been able to forget his son’s fate.
– I remember my son’s youth, his life and character. How he went to school and walked home. I remember everything, I can’t get it out of my eyes. And I can’t forget him.
Laalbasr pulls his scarf lower, climbs up the ladder from the roof and starts hoeing the ground. The sun sets over Nerkh. You don’t have to be afraid of bombing here anymore.
The A-studio will be discussed on Monday 15.8. about how the position of women and girls has changed during the Taliban rule. The broadcast can be watched on TV1 channel and Areena at 21:05.