The girls I taught in Kabul were Afghanistan's future. The Taliban has taken that away

[niyad]

The girls I taught in Kabul were Afghanistan’s future. The Taliban has taken that away
Shikiba

The school I worked in has been forced to close. Our dreams are shattered and we urge you, people of the west, to help. I am a woman living in Kabul and I am a teacher. Until eight months ago, I was one of the staff at The City of Knowledge (COK), an educational centre that helped women go to university and pursue the careers of their choice. Through my work, I witnessed the ambition and hope of many women in my country. Since the Taliban came back, our life has drastically changed. We are like moving bodies without souls. Our dreams, and the knowledge we could have had, are shattered.

I always believed history was a progression, but I have seen in the past few month’s my country’s rapid regression to the middle ages. Before, women and girls were still taking tiny steps towards a better future. Now, just going to school has become an unattainable dream for hundreds of thousands of them. Our lives were far from perfect before the Taliban returned to power. Every day my young students risked their lives to get to schools and tuition centres like ours, which were targets in the war. But the moment the girls entered the school, they bloomed – despite the bloody attacks outside and a dire economic and security situation, I could see their hopes for fruitful careers as doctors, engineers and lawyers. But with just a stroke of his pen, US diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad, who negotiated the US “peace agreement” with the Taliban, threw us into a dark pit of ignorance, terror and brutality within a matter of hours.

A few months ago, the Taliban pledged to reopen girls’ schools. Unsurprisingly, they are now backtracking on that commitment. Women cannot work or leave their homes without a burqa, they cannot laugh, wear makeup or heeled shoes, they cannot be with a man who is not their mahram (father, brother, husband or son). They cannot go to school or university.

As a teacher, I dreamed that my students would become Afghanistan’s future doctors, engineers, lawyers, scientists, artists and technical experts, inspiring countless others to do the same. With the Taliban once again in complete control of our country, our school has been forced to close. Many of my fellow teachers have fled our country, fearing for their lives. I remember telling my students the news. Some of them said: “Is this not our right? Is it a crime to seek education? For god’s sake, billionaires are going into outer space and we are not even allowed to attend a school!” The west has played a horrible game with our country over the decades. I think it is the biggest crime against humanity to never let a country progress. The US and its allies handed our already battered motherland over to a bunch of criminals and terrorists, and it is women and girls who are paying the price now.


. . . .

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/11/girls-kabul-afghanistan-taliban-school-close

[TheRealNorth]

1. It's too bad the Afghans didn't fight like the Ukrainians.....

[niyad]

2. Sadly true. But it was not as if this was unexpected. Apart from invading in the first place,

apparently one of the biggest mistakes the US made was in not training the women and girls instead of the men.

[former9thward]

4. Actually they did.

They drove out the Russians (with some help from us) and then they drove out the U.S. (with little help from anyone else). The Ukrainians have all sorts of heavy firepower being supplied by others.

[Dr. Strange]

8. True.

They drove out the Russians (with some help from us) and then they drove out the U.S. (with little help from anyone else).

But they're not driving out the Taliban. I suppose we my have to accept that that is the future they want.

[Hortensis]

10. Afghan culture's overall extremely conservative and in comparison makes

our RW culture warriors look like 21st century advocates for further social advances.

These girls' lives will take somewhat different courses, but they're still there, their parents who want more opportunities for them are still there, and they will be part of the future.

[Hoyt]

3. Believe withdrawing from Afghanistan was right thing to do, but

these folks might disagree.

[Demsrule86]

5. It was the right thing to do...people who had all these plans for women did not understand the

culture had not changed even a little bit. You can't build nations that have such different ideas than we do.

[Hoyt]

9. We should have done more while there, but too late now.

[Hortensis]

11. We did do more while there. But changing the dominant culture

to want what we did offer was beyond our powers. "The people" spoke as far as we were concerned.

[Me.]

6. So Brave To Write This

"

[niyad]

7. Indeed. Her name was changed for her protection, hope it is enough.

[Me.]

12. I Read That

and also hope they can't track her down

[Hortensis]

13. Sad, but these girls are still there, their parents who want more for them

are still there (!), and since most won't leave Afghanistan they will be part of its future.

Climate change is creating huge problems, including causing increasing conservatism, that will impact all and some severely. Drought and disappearing farmland with disappearing snowfall and fresh water are devastating problems that will only worsen. Not all will bring their children and families alive through famine. Every climate-related problem that afflicts the rest of the world will be more devastating there, including such things as future violent unrest/war, economic collapses, and the other pandemic diseases sure to come.

[niyad]

14. Sadly true. And are families even being allowed to leave?

[Hortensis]

15. Yes. Last I heard no, but? In future perhaps some urban Kabul residents,

where this author taught, will be able to afford to if restrictions are relaxed. Most Afghanis put responsibilities to their families first, though.