By: Sherin Yousfi
One year has passed since the former Afghan government fell to the Taliban on August 15, 2021.
The Taliban have imposed new regulations and restrictions during the first year of their rule, pulling the entire country back into the 1990s when they first took control of Afghanistan.
In other words, the Taliban’s government has been able to undo almost all the progress the people have had during the two decades of the U.S.-backed government.
Though the Taliban’s return to power have impacted all Afghans, women have borne the brunt of the Taliban’s draconian restrictions.
Hundreds of thousands, by some estimates even millions, of girls of secondary education are kept out of school. Women can’t travel internally and internationally without having a male companion. Thousands or even tens of thousands of women have lost their jobs. The Taliban’s government has stopped issuing driving licenses to women.
Importantly, women have been forced to cover themselves from head-to-toe by burqa or other types of hijabs.
The Taliban have also crushed women’s protests in Kabul and elsewhere in the country, detaining and torturing many protesters.
The Taliban are celebrating the first anniversary of their victory on August 15 which has been declared a public holiday. In this story, we asked Afghan women what August 15 means for them. Here is what they told us.
Back to the square one
Zahra Mohammadi, a 27-year-old dentist and women’s rights activist, said August 15 reminds her of the day of returning to square one.
This day means the fall of a nation, the fall of a system, and the fall of a society, and it is the darkest day of her life, she added. She said she couldn’t find any words to express her feelings about this day.
When Afghanistan’s provinces began to fall to the Taliban like dominos in the first two weeks of August 2021, she hoped Kabul wouldn’t. But it fell on August 15, and the dreams of many Afghans also collapsed with it.
She said August 15 is the day that she was forced to raise her voice in the streets of Kabul and shout that it was not fair for women to stay home and lose their rights after a lifetime of struggles.
Mohammadi was among the women protesters who were imprisoned by the Taliban. She said August 15th for her means nine days of being in the Taliban’s prison and being tortured by them.
A group that shouts women without a male family member shouldn’t leave home, she said, imprisoned her alone, kicking and punching her.
A repeat of a black history
Sima Sama, 24, a student, said August 15 is the day that the stories her mother and grandmother told us about the Taliban’s brutal rule during the 1990s turned into reality for herself 20 years later.
She said she shed uncontrollable tears for Kabul, and her younger sister who cannot go to school anymore since August 15. She said she became a helpless person the day Taliban entered Kabul.
Sama added August 15 reminds her of her father’s sad face and her mother’s worries. It is the day her father felt powerless in front of his daughters’ misfortune.
Her mother remained illiterate due to the Taliban’s rule in the 1990s, and two decades later the same group hasn’t allowed let her younger sister return to school.
For her August 15 means a year of regret, stress, and uncertainty. She said she has asked herself a question frequently in the past year: What will happen in the future?
Terrible nightmare
Gulbakht Nikzad, 23, a schoolteacher, said August 15 reminds her of a terrible nightmare that she has been struggling with for a year.
She added August 15 is the day she came home from university and lost all hope about the future.
Though she heard bullet fires, she didn’t want to believe that the Taliban had taken Kabul. But it actually had happened. The Taliban, who made thousands of mothers mourn their children, were back as rulers, she said.
Nikzad added that August 15 is the day when hundreds of girls closed the book of their dreams forever.
August 15 is the day of removing women from the public arena, the end of art, the end of freedom of expression, and the beginning of the suppression of an entire generation. August 15 is the repetition of the darkest day and night in the history of Afghanistan.
The death of a dream overnight
Rahila Yosufi, 25, a journalist, said August 15 reminds her of displacement, anger and hatred.
She said she couldn’t believe the Taliban had returned to power for a few days. Who accepts the death of her wishes and dreams overnight?
Yosufi added she slept every night, hoping the nightmare of the Taliban rule wasn’t true and that it would end the next morning. But a year has passed, and the Taliban are still the rulers of Afghanistan.
The Taliban killed her hope, freedom and dreams and silenced her voice during their one-year rule, Yosufi said.
She added the days and months after August 15, 2021, weren’t just normal days and months, they were the days and months of untold and unheard pains.
Dreaming to go to school
Viana, a 17-year-old high school student, said August 15 reminds her of the start of her disappointment and depression.
A year has passed since that day but she still hasn’t overcome the pain and suffering she endured.
She said she was lost on August 15, 2021, and she has not been able to find her real self since then. The real her wasn’t a hopeless and upset person, as she is now, she added.
Viana said August 15 is the day that going to school became like a dream for her. She said August 15 means she hates her new self, who is afraid of her unknown future.
