My dear Yesna, a girl dearer to me than my own life!
You were born two years ago, 19 days before the government collapsed. You were born into the worst circumstances of our time.
My daughter! You are still small and you do not know what the fall of the government has brought upon you, but as your father, I am deeply affected by the thoughts of what kind of life is ahead of you. I am very worried about your uncertain future. I don’t know if you can study in the future or not, if you will have freedom or not. All I know is a very difficult future awaits you.
My dear daughter! As a father, I am truly sorry to see you and your gender in such a terrible and unbearable situation. Almost two years have passed since the “republic” switched to “Islamic Emirate”. For two years, bitter and unacceptable conditions have been imposed on the girls of this land.
Today, girls like you don’t know for what crime they have been sentenced to this mass torture. They can’t work, they can’t get an education, and they can’t have freedom, they can’t breathe, they can’t progress, they can’t travel as they want, they can’t go out for fun, they can’t exercise, they can’t fall in love, they can’t make decisions in their lives and cannot serve themselves, their families and their society.
My dear Yesna! Because of this situation that’s befallen you, my very bones are on fire. Sometimes I blame myself a lot for this. Since my gender, men, do such injustice to you and justify it with religion, I am ashamed.
My dear girl! We are in a time when the right and humanity of informed and conscientious fathers is ridiculed. We men are also in some way captured and held hostage just like you. We cannot raise our voices either. Like you, and perhaps worse than you, we have choked our own dreams. We closed our eyes and our hopes for a brighter tomorrow. We don’t know if a better future will be ahead of us or not. We don’t know. Yet.
Dearest girl, dearer than my life! Today you and I are adrift in the same boat. They oppress you for merely being a girl and oppress us who do not agree with them.
This is how we both suffer and there is no one to cry out to in our shared pain.
Omar Ahmadi:{the name has changed for security reasons}
May 14, 2023
“Letter To My Daughter” is an opportunity to write about how life has changed for women and girls under the de facto rule of the Taliban. You are invited to share your account through the format of a letter of how you navigate life under the Taliban. Write about what you experience at home, outside the home, or simply inside yourself.
