A NUMBER OF WOMEN ARE AFRAID OF LOSING THEIR LIVES – AFRAID THAT IF THEY RAISE THEIR VOICES, THEY WILL BE ARRESTED, KILLED OR IMPRISONED AND THAT THEIR HONOUR WILL BE TAKEN

“I used to be a member of the Provincial Council in my area, and in 2010, I became the head of an NGO. Before the Taliban takeover, I had a project through my NGO, on peacebuilding and implementing [United Nations Security Council] resolution 1325. Also, I was a member of the Provincial Council for four years.

Now, I am currently at home and unable to do any activities. Unemployment has been a big change in my life. For a woman who has been active outside the home and who has been working for years to suddenly stop all activities and stay at home is a huge change.

The other important change in my life has been the security problems. From a security point of view, I am not in a good situation. That is a fact.

At the moment, our survival is the most important issue. That is, we only think about what to do to survive and to ensure that no one will disturb us. We want to live like normal people so that no one will interrogate us about our duties in the past.

I cannot do any activities in my province. I have faced many security problems. When the Taliban took over, I moved to another province. I began implementing a project in the field of humanitarian programmes, which was implemented by my employees, as I was not in the field myself. That was until things became more serious…

At first, the Taliban thought I had left Afghanistan. Then, when they found out that I had not left and that I was in the country still busy with my work, my security problems increased. While implementing the mentioned project, they harassed my employees. Later, I pretended I wasn’t working anymore and just staying at home. Since then, I have had no more public activities and I do what I can from home.

The future of Afghanistan under the Taliban does not look good. But if the regime changes and some changes come, it will probably get better.

The only thing that all men and women can do, but they don’t, is fight. If they want, everyone can stand up and fight against the Talib, not accept their words, advocate for girls’ education and advocate for women’s work – especially Afghan men, who have never supported women and are not willing to.

My message to the international community is that we are not advocating for women and girls just to study and work.