Nilofar: a day that would never end
Nilofar’s head drops to her knees and she bursts into tears when asked about her experience being detained by the Taliban.
Still crying, she looks up after a few moments and says “They hurt me a lot.”
The 20-year-old was arrested by Taliban forces on Monday, January 8 from Pul-e-Khoshk of west Kabul and taken to the local police station.
She spent about 24 hours in detention, and the experience has left her in deep distress.
Nilofar was forced into a car by Taliban forces while walking with her friend Zarghuna.
“Suddenly, someone from behind grabbed my hand tightly. When I looked back, I saw a woman dressed in black from head to toe – only her eyes were visible – and without a word, she pulled me towards their vehicle. Another woman grabbed my friend. They pulled us to the Taliban military car,” Nilofar says.
In a fit of terror, she threw her phone into the nearby sewer – a deep gutter running alongside the road – and screamed for help.
“No matter how much I shouted, no one listened. There were many people there. Everyone was just watching,” she says.
“I resisted at the door of the car but a man hit me hard on the back with a whip and I had to get into the car.
“We asked ‘Where are you taking us? What is our sin?’ No one said anything. All the girls were crying,” Nilofar says.
She was taken with several other girls to a police district in Kabul city and held in a cold basement without carpet or windows, not knowing their fate.
“There were so many girls that there was no place to sit. All of us were crying. The Taliban guards would beat and harass us with whips. I cried a lot, asking why they brought me here, what was my sin.
“I was wearing white shoes. They beat me saying, ‘You are insulting our flag, you donkey Hazaras’. A Talib punched me and kicked me hard on my head, face, back, and dragged me. He even tore my clothes and then stood at the door and laughed,” Nilofar says.
“They called other girls prostitutes too and touched their whole bodies.”
Interrogated by ‘Mawlawi’
Since January 1, Taliban forces began a campaign of mass detentions of girls and women over what they say is a measure to enforce appropriate Islamic veils. Similar to Nilofar, many of those arrested say they were wearing hijabs and were not told what is happening or where they’re going when they’re grabbed from the street. Many are not allowed to contact families until later when the families are forced to pay for their release.
Nilofar says the Taliban interrogated the girls and women in a separate room. She was interrogated by a Talib that everyone called Mawlawi.
“How often do you pray? How often do you read Shahadatain (Declaration of Faith)? What do you do? Are you single or married? What do your parents do?” Nilofar lists the questions she was asked.
“There was only a table and a chair in a dark room. Mawlawi was there with three other Taliban members. Mawlawi would ask the questions, and when I cried or remained silent, the others would punch and kick me,” she says.
“When I said I was single, all of them laughed and asked, ‘Why don’t Hazaras get married? If you can’t find a husband, we are here.’ When I told them that I was a midwife, the Mawlawi laughed and said, Hazaras also become doctors.’”
The physical torment was persistent. Nilofar recalls how the rough treatment tore her clothes, pulled her hair, ripped off the hijab she was wearing, how her head was dunked in a bucket of dirty water.
“I was flailing [in the bucket] and they were laughing at me and slapping me on the back and saying, if your family doesn’t come for you, you’re good to pass time with.”
Sexual assault and relentless torture
Nilofar says the Talibs touched the sensitive and private parts of the girls’ bodies and checked the girls’ mobile phones. She witnessed some of them being removed after their phones were investigated – she understood they were being taken to the high security Pol-e-Charkhi prison in Kabul.
“The Talibs covered their heads with a black hood and took them away. They harassed other girls because of their phones, touched their private parts, grabbed their hair, dragged them across the room, and put their heads in a bucket of water,” she says.
Not only were they not given any food or water, but the Talibs would eat in front of them.
“The Taliban forces were eating in front of us and laughing saying, ‘Don’t you eat food?’ One said that we will not even give you poison to eat, let alone food.
The twenty-four hours passed slowly – Nilofar says it felt like it was dragging on for a year with the Talibs using every moment to humiliate and mentally abuse the detained women.
“They told us things like, ‘You [Hazaras] are infidels. You have contaminated the Barchi. You are not from Afghanistan. We will kick you out of Afghanistan,” she says.
‘I’ll kill you, of course, but not so easily’
At one point during her beating, Nilofar begged one of her Talib abusers to kill her in an attempt to make the pain stop.
“When I fell at his feet begging for him to kill me and not abuse me anymore, he put his foot on my head and said, ‘Be quiet, you donkey. I’ll kill you, of course, but not so easily. We have to reach our goal and be entertained, then you will be killed,” she says.
A family goes into debt for a daughter’s release
When Nilofar’s father and brother came to the police district to get her, they were also beaten by the Taliban forces.
“They hit my father with the butt of a gun and kicked him and cursed him, saying, ‘You Hazaras are a disgrace, your wives and daughters are prostitutes. They are in the street and bazaar all day. A woman is meant for home, not outside; But you Hazara men sit at home and take your women out,” she says.
Nilofar says she was released in exchange for a payment from her family of more than 100,000 afghanis (US$1400) and on the condition she would not talk to anyone about her arrest.
Nilofar has still not recovered.
Traumatised and broken, she has twice attempted to end her life but both times her family has intervened and saved her.
However, since the arrest, they are pressuring her to marry.
“There are fights and disputes between our family every night. Because they borrowed the money for my freedom,” she says. “My father is old and my brother is unemployed.”
Her family have also stopped her from continuing her job.
None of her relatives know that she was detained or what happened to her. Her family fear the news could affect her marriage prospects.
A family’s desperate search denied by Taliban authorities
Nilofar’s brother Mohammad says that he and his father found his sister after a long search for her in Kabul city.
“No matter how much we searched, there was no news of Nilofar. After we heard that the Taliban forces arrested several girls from Barchi because of their hijabs, we went to a police district. But they denied everything and said that they had not arrested any girls,” he says.
Mohammad* says it was only after several visits that the Taliban accepted that Nilofar was in their custody.
He said that the Taliban demanded a large ransom in exchange for the release of his sister, which they could not afford. Mohammad also confirmed that the Taliban beat him and his father and threatened them and his family with death if they say anything about Nilofar’s arrest.
“My sister doesn’t wear colorful clothes anymore. She is in deep shock. Her tears are the only salve for these days,” Mohammad says.
Sana: Arrested for a long blue dress
Fifteen-year-old Sana* was arrested on Sunday, January 7 from Qala-e-Naw area of west Kabul. She was with her younger brother buying medicine for their mother when the Taliban forces picked her up and forced her to go with them to the local police district.
She was held for at least 72 hours.
Sana says she was wearing a long dress, hijab, and a facemask, but the Taliban forces arrested her for wearing colorful clothes, jeans under her dress, and for not having any socks on.
“I think it was 10am when I went to Qala-e-Naw with my brother to buy medicine for my mother. I was about to enter the pharmacy when a Vice and Virtue Talib asked, ‘Why did you wear colored clothes and pants? Why didn’t you wear socks?’ I was trembling with fear, and I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t say anything. When he wanted to take me to the car, I fainted. I don’t remember anything immediately after that,” Sana says.
A mother’s desperate search
Sana’s mother Rahima is certain her daughter was targeted because of her blue dress and jeans.
“The cruel Taliban took my poor girl with them. My daughter is still a child. She does not understand anything. She even wore a long dress. But she was taken for wearing colorful clothes,”
After her younger son returned home and informed them of Sana’s arrest, Rahima and her husband went to the local police district, but the Taliban told them that no girl was brought to this area.
“I barged into the police district and fell at the feet of every Talib I saw and begged them to release my daughter. She is still so young. Forgive her for whatever she did wrong. They said, ‘Go aunty, stop being crazy!’”
But finally a Talib shoved them out of the police district and said their daughter would be released when they brought money.
“We will not release your daughter without money. Go find money and come later,” Rahima quoted the Talib as saying.
Sana wakes up to the sounds of deep distress
Meanwhile, Sana was waking up from her fainting episode in a room full of detainees.
“I woke up from the sound of crying and moaning. I didn’t know where it was. There were many girls there and they were screaming and crying.”
Sana began to cry as well.
“I was crying a lot. A Talib came and punched me in the arm. When I did not calm down, they took me to another room. There was a Talib with a white gown. They put me on a bench. They asked me about my name, age, my parents, and their work, and what they did during the previous government period, and how much money we had at home. I was crying again, and again the same Talib punched me hard on the back and said, ‘Be quiet,” she says.
“A Talib asked me what grade I’m in at school. I said that I was in the 7th grade when other schools were closed. He laughed and said, ‘We’ll not let you go to school anymore. You should be at home and die there.”
Sana says some of the girls were sexually assualted.
“They asked every girl about their age. They touched their private parts and talked and laughed together in Pashto. The girls just cried and some were begging for them not to hurt them, but the Taliban cursed them and said, ‘You Hazara prostitutes made Barchi like Europe. We will kick you out of Barchi.”
After 72 hours, Sana was released in exchange for an undisclosed amount of afghanis that her family had to borrow money for.
Rahima is worried about the ongoing consequences of the loans they owe.
“God forbid even a person’s enemy sees that day – I didn’t have even a hundred afghanis with me. I went to all my relatives on foot to borrow money to save my daughter. Now the economic situation is bad. No one is in a good situation,” Rahima says.
She says Sana has nightmares every night and has trouble sleeping.
“I sit next to her every night until she falls asleep. After a few minutes, she screams and jumps here and there,” Rahima says.
Rahima says Sana jumps even at the sound of cars and motorcycles and no longer leaves the home.
Criticism and concern
The United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner said in a statement on February 2that the Taliban first started arresting and detaining women in the Hazara-inhabited area of western Kabul and then quickly expanded this operation to the Tajik-inhabited areas of Kabul.
The Taliban have also been arresting women for “improper hijabs” in provinces such as Bamyan, Baghlan, Balkh, and Kunduz provinces, the UN added.
It also confirmed the mistreatment of detained women.
“Women and girls detained in Taliban detention centers received only one meal a day, and some of them were subjected to physical violence, threats and intimidation,” the statement released on February 2 said.
Recently, a senior Hazara cleric Ayatollah Waezzada Behsudi, has criticized the Taliban’s move in a program held by the Taliban Taliban to justify the issue of arresting women.
Mr. Behsoudi called this action of the Taliban an attack on the “honor” of the Afghan citizens.
The Taliban de facto authorities have denied there is any mistreatment of the prisoners and detainees at their hands, including women and girls.
