How Taliban Sacked Female Bankers In Afghan
Faith Ukanwa
Aug 16, 2021
Aisha Khurram spent a sleepless first night under Taliban rule, the sound of gunfire and evacuation planes puncturing the silence as she reflected on a day that "shattered our souls and spirits to the core."
READ ALSO: T0P ST0RY(Insecurity): Saboteurs Are After My Govt, I Will Not Resign - Buhari Spills
"It was like a doomsday for the entire nation to see everything collapse in (the) blink of an eye," she told AFP in a series of messages via Twitter on Monday after Taliban fighters swept into Kabul, and her neighbourhood, uncontested.
READ ALSO: Why Madagascar Soldiers Refused Orders to Shoot Protesters | WATCH VIDEO
Khurram, a 22-year-old former youth representative to the United Nations, is just months away from graduating from Kabul University.
READ ALSO: President Trump Unveils $1,000 Investment Account for All Babies Born Between 2025-2028
But she and fellow female students now face an uncertain future.
READ ALSO: Presidency vs governors: Era of frosty relationship ended under Buhari - APC group
"The world and Afghan leaders failed the younger generation of Afghanistan in the cruellest way imaginable," she said.
READ ALSO: INEC announces date for 2023 general elections
"It is a nightmare for educated women who envisioned a brighter future for themselves and generations to come."
READ ALSO: How I Survived When Everyone Else Died" - Lone Survivor of Air India Crash Speaks
In the weeks leading up to their return to power, the Taliban's leadership have strived to portray a softer image than when they last ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001.
READ ALSO: Re: TETFUND National Research Fund (NRF) 2020 Grants Cycle: Call For Concepts Notes
But women struggle to take comfort from such assurances.
- 'History repeats itself' -
READ ALSO: Dr. Chima Anyaso Hosts Namibian Governor, Strengthens Africa's Economic Partnerships
Under the hardline version of sharia law that the Taliban imposed the last time they controlled the capital, women and girls were mostly denied education or employment.
READ ALSO: WHY Police Arrested Akon in Georgia Revealed: Full Details Emerge
Full face coverings became mandatory in public and they could not leave home without a male companion.
READ ALSO: Trump Speaks Out: Why U.S. May Join the Israel-Iran War | READ DETAILS
Public floggings and executions, including stoning for adultery, were carried out in city squares and stadiums.
READ ALSO: I WANT TO BE KNOWN AS THE WEEPING REP. MEMBER FROM BENDE - BENJAMIN KALU
The Taliban's ouster did not spell the end of abuses. Women often remained marginalised, especially in rural areas.
READ ALSO: T0P ST0RY(Insecurity): Saboteurs Are After My Govt, I Will Not Resign - Buhari Spills
But over the last two decades, significant progress was made in cities with women filling universities and entering the workforce in ambitious positions in the media, politics, the judiciary and even the security forces.
READ ALSO: Why Madagascar Soldiers Refused Orders to Shoot Protesters | WATCH VIDEO
In the last 24 hours, prominent women in Kabul have taken to social media to express their pain for both a country and a way of life now that the Taliban are back in control.
READ ALSO: President Trump Unveils $1,000 Investment Account for All Babies Born Between 2025-2028
"I start my day looking at empty streets of Kabul, horrified (for) its people," wrote Fawzia Koofi, a rights activist and politician, and Afghanistan's former deputy speaker of parliament.
READ ALSO: Presidency vs governors: Era of frosty relationship ended under Buhari - APC group
"History repeats itself so quickly."
READ ALSO: INEC announces date for 2023 general elections
"The fear just sits inside your chest like a black bird," added Muska Dastageer, a lecturer at the American University of Afghanistan, which opened its doors five years after the Taliban were ousted.
READ ALSO: How I Survived When Everyone Else Died" - Lone Survivor of Air India Crash Speaks
"It opens its wings and you can't breathe."
READ ALSO: Re: TETFUND National Research Fund (NRF) 2020 Grants Cycle: Call For Concepts Notes
- Broken hearts -
The Twitter timeline of Rada Akbar, a 33-year-old photographer, was littered with broken heart emojis.
READ ALSO: Dr. Chima Anyaso Hosts Namibian Governor, Strengthens Africa's Economic Partnerships
"My beloved Afghanistan collapsed before my eyes," one post read.
READ ALSO: WHY Police Arrested Akon in Georgia Revealed: Full Details Emerge
Another entry shared a now viral photograph of a man painting over pictures of smiling brides on the front of a hairdresser.
READ ALSO: Trump Speaks Out: Why U.S. May Join the Israel-Iran War | READ DETAILS
"Erasing women from the public space," she wrote.
READ ALSO: I WANT TO BE KNOWN AS THE WEEPING REP. MEMBER FROM BENDE - BENJAMIN KALU
Akbar is known for her striking self-portraits that were both a declaration of her independence and heritage.
READ ALSO: T0P ST0RY(Insecurity): Saboteurs Are After My Govt, I Will Not Resign - Buhari Spills
An exhibition she held earlier this year was forced online after she faced threats for her work showcasing some of the nation's powerful female figures.
READ ALSO: Why Madagascar Soldiers Refused Orders to Shoot Protesters | WATCH VIDEO
On Monday morning, her fear was palpable.
READ ALSO: President Trump Unveils $1,000 Investment Account for All Babies Born Between 2025-2028
"I want to become invisible and hide from the world," read her latest tweet.
READ ALSO: Presidency vs governors: Era of frosty relationship ended under Buhari - APC group
Two days before the Taliban took power, the UN refugee agency was already warning that 80 percent of the nearly a quarter of a million Afghans forced to flee since the end of May are women and children.
READ ALSO: INEC announces date for 2023 general elections
On Saturday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the rights of Afghan girls and women were being "ripped away" in areas that the Taliban had already seized.
READ ALSO: How I Survived When Everyone Else Died" - Lone Survivor of Air India Crash Speaks
Sahraa Karimi, one of Afghanistan's most prominent women filmmakers, said she had no plans to leave.
READ ALSO: Re: TETFUND National Research Fund (NRF) 2020 Grants Cycle: Call For Concepts Notes
"I will not abandon my country until the last moment," she said in a video posted on Twitter, wiping away tears.
"Perhaps, many will think this is foolishness. But foolishness is what was done by those who abused our homeland... Foolishness is what the world showed by turning its back on us."
READ ALSO: Dr. Chima Anyaso Hosts Namibian Governor, Strengthens Africa's Economic Partnerships
NOTE: This story was updated
READ ALSO: WHY Police Arrested Akon in Georgia Revealed: Full Details Emerge
(AFP)
Related Stories
WHY Police Arrested Akon in Georgia Revealed: Full Details Emerge
Dr. Chima Anyaso Hosts Namibian Governor, Strengthens Africa's Economic Partnerships
Why Madagascar Soldiers Refused Orders to Shoot Protesters | WATCH VIDEO
Trump Speaks Out: Why U.S. May Join the Israel-Iran War | READ DETAILS
How I Survived When Everyone Else Died" - Lone Survivor of Air India Crash Speaks
President Trump Unveils $1,000 Investment Account for All Babies Born Between 2025-2028
""
— Faith Ukanwa