By Arzoo Hakimi <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Aybak city, the capital of central Samangan province, fell to the Taliban on the 9th of September, 15-year-old Maryam collected all her books and school certificates together. Fearing the Taliban might find and target her for being a student, she then set the pile on fire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I met Maryam two months after the Taliban\u2019s lightning takeover of Afghanistan in mid-August. Burning her last nine years of recorded achievements has made Maryam go from child to depressed adult, overnight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When she heard the news about the fall of Samangan on TV, she was reminded of all the stories she had heard about the previous Taliban era. She could only focus on one thing in her mind: the burning of her documents. She believed this was the only way to save her family from danger. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhen I saw the flame from my certificates, I wondered, \u2018why I didn\u2019t set myself on fire?\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maryam and her family, including her five younger sisters, live in a village near Aybak city, where she used to work in the field with her parents. Now, with the Taliban in power, Maryam and her mother can\u2019t work outside the home. Her father, now working alone, can\u2019t make ends meet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the eldest child, Maryam feels responsible, especially for her sisters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow should a child understand that because she is a girl, she can no longer go to school?\u201d she said angrily. \u201cI now feel as if the walls and ceiling of my house are collapsing on me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her younger sisters are still going to school, but it\u2019s not like before. Most of the female teachers are not allowed to work and many students are staying at home, fearful of the sudden uncertain environment for women and girls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy sisters are in primary school, but they already know that they can’t continue school after sixth grade,\u201d she said. On September 17, the Taliban banned girls from secondary schools when it ordered that teenage boys could return, but made no mention of girls. Although the Taliban claim their de facto ban on girls\u2019 education and women\u2019s work is temporary, they are yet to provide a timeline for when women and girls will be allowed to return.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Arzoo Hakimi When Aybak city, the capital of central Samangan province, fell to the Taliban on the 9th of September, 15-year-old Maryam collected all her books and school certificates together. Fearing the Taliban might find and target her for being a student, she then set the pile on fire. I met Maryam two months […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3851,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","video":"","gallery":"","source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override":[{"single_blog_custom":"","sidebar":"","second_sidebar":"","share_position":"","share_float_style":"","post_date_format":"","post_date_format_custom":"","post_reading_time_wpm":"","zoom_button_out_step":"1","zoom_button_in_step":"1","number_popup_post":"1"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"","single_post_gallery_size":""}],"trending_post_position":"","trending_post_label":"","sponsored_post_label":"","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":""},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1022,966,902],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cases-en","category-featured-en","category-reports-en"],"yoast_head":"\n