“They took our home and our belongings and even beat my 10-year-old son”
Anisa
“My husband, a former employee of the National Security Directorate in Kunduz Province, and I decided to buy a house together a week before the Taliban took over. We were very happy with this decision, and we were enjoying a peaceful and pleasant life with our family. Unfortunately, this happiness didn’t last.
After 15 August 2021, when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, all women were ordered to stay at home and I lost my job [at the Department of Women’s Affairs]. My husband had to go into hiding because of his previous involvement with the security forces, and our lives took a turn for the worse. We lost everything we had and despair and hardship overtook us. We entered a dark and uncertain time surrounded by anxiety and fear.
We were very scared because some of my husband’s colleagues were killed by the Taliban. I participated in demonstrations with the women of Kunduz, and we were subjected to Taliban violence. Several times, I was identified by the Taliban during these protests and it put me in danger.
I was forced to flee to Kabul and had no one to support me. I spent several nights on the street collecting wood and pieces of wastepaper from the roadsides to keep my children warm in the cold winter. I had no news from my husband and cried every night.
Finally, we received the heartbreaking news of my husband’s death, which was a devastating blow to me and my children. We thought our lives had come to an end with his loss. The most sorrowful period of my life began, and I was even unable to see his dead body.
The Taliban then declared that women would not be allowed to leave their homes without a male companion. But I had no choice but to work because I had no one to feed and care for me and my children. I live with my three children and work as a domestic servant in other people’s houses. Most of the time I am forced to beg, in spite of working, to try to send my children to school so that they can have a better future.
