It’s been a year since the Taliban recaptured Kabul and after a twenty-year-war following the 2001 US-led Nato invasion, the country is now facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises in the world under a regime that denies women and girls their basic rights.
Neelam Sarwary couldn’t smile for two months while she hid in her home in Kabul with her two small children. She’s left behind the life she built in Afghanistan and is now starting anew in Bristol but has not forgotten about all the women and girls who remain in Afghanistan, under Taliban rule.
The former TV presenter and women’s rights activist feared to leave the house for two months knowing she would be a target, having been a leader in the ‘Green scarfs’ movement and vocal in promoting the education of girls. After an IS suicide bomber attacked Kabul International Airport on August 26, 2021 provoking US airstrikes in the following days, Neelam knew it was not safe for her to go to the airport with her two young kids so she waited at home for two months to ensure the safety of her family.
READ MORE: Bristol resident desperate to help family escape from Afghanistan after home raided by Taliban
Neelam said: “When I came here my kids could see me smile again, even though my heart was broken I was able to smile again for them. When the Taliban arrived in Kabul I was scared that my husband and I would not make it out of the office alive.
“I stopped all my work and stayed at home. I couldn’t even take my kids to the nearest park, I was scared they would kill me in front of my kids, they do not know the value of humanity.
“It was a hard moment for me, we were struggling to find a way to leave the country. I had two small kids so I couldn’t go to the airport after there was a big explosion.”
Although Neelam’s experiences in Bristol have been positive, she mourns the life and people back home and dreams of peace in Afghanistan and equality for women and girls. She wants the world to listen to the ‘silent screams’ of the women and girls in Afghanistan, she wrote in an article for ACH on International Women’s Day, 2022 .
In June this year a video went viral of the YouTuber and fashion model, Ajmal Haqiqi was arrested by the Taliban after being accused of ‘disrespecting Islam’. Neelam is concerned about the model who she met as a TV presenter and has allegedly been beaten and tortured alongside his colleagues.
Neelam said: “He used to be a regular guest on my show when I was a presenter. He has gone missing and I don’t know if he is in jail or dead, there are lots of cases of women and girls who were protesting in the streets and nobody knows where they are.
“It’s so hard for all Afghans, even those who have left are living in danger. They killed an Afghan Refugee living in India, the Taliban don’t want people to enjoy their lives.
“They are saying that people who are creative are against the Quran. They are not educated people and they will never do anything positive for women and girls.
“They are forcing women to wear Burqas, they don’t value women. Until they value women nothing will change and we will never support them.
“Afghanistan has a rich cultural heritage but now women are left with no culture or identity. They cannot work or study and do not even have air to breathe.
“This is not a life, the whole world should support Afghanistan. We need positive change for all women around the world but especially Afghan girls; they need our support right now because they are not going to school.
“I appreciate the UK government for helping me but I want them to think about all women and girls in Afghanistan. If we had peace it wouldn’t happen, we should work for peace even if it seems like a dream for Afghanistan.”
'Humanitarian crisis to catastrophe' in Afghanistan
In 2001 the UK military joined US forces as part of an international coalition with the aim of capturing Osama Bin Laden and ending Taliban rule. The Taliban was founded by former members of the Afghan mujahideen, fighters who were originally supported with arms and funds from the CIA to support their fight against the Soviet invasion.
Following the end of the Soviet-Afghan war in 1992, a civil war saw the Mujahideen break up into several warring factions with one of those groups, the Taliban coming to power in 1996. They were toppled after the 2001 US-led invasion but the twenty-year war that officially ended in 2020 saw the Taliban regaining control of the country in 2021.
A recent report from Human Rights Watch states that “the Taliban victory propelled Afghanistan from humanitarian crisis to catastrophe, with millions of Afghans facing severe food insecurity due to lost income , cash shortages, and rising food costs .”
A UN-backed report published in May this year stated that record levels of hunger persist in Afghanistan. Nearly 21 million people- almost half the population are facing hunger.
In her article, Neelam writes about the horrors facing women and girls in Afghanistan. She speaks about mothers going to bed hungry, girls working as street vendor who are abused and attacked and a story of a mother who was killed while giving birth and her baby whose foot was injured from a suicide attack, a few hours after being born.
Afghanistan resettlement scheme
Neelam was one of around 21,000 Afghan refugees who have settled in the UK over the last year. According to written evidence to the Foreign Affairs Committee it is estimated that up to 150,000 Afghan’s have applied for evacuation with only 5 percent receiving assistance.
Government data shows that between January and March 2022 more Afghans arrived on small boats than any other nationality. A UK government policy to send such asylum seekers to Rwanda is currently undergoing a legal challenge with a judicial review to start in September.
Afghans make up one of the largest refugee populations worldwide with 2.6 million registered and the majority of those (2.2 million) in Iran and Pakistan. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) an additional 3.5 million people are internally displaced within Afghanistan and the number of people fleeing the country is likely to continue to rise.
READ NEXT:
- Bristol City of Sanctuary hits out at controversial bill which could turn migrants away at sea
- Kamil Ahmed: Bristol asylum seeker murdered in racist attack remembered in new mural
- Bristol asylum-seeker protest making stand against Rwanda deportation plans
- Bristol Refugee Rights in desperate need of funds to support families
- Church and mosque come together to help refugees isolated in Almondsbury
- Refugees say they are stuck in isolated Bristol hotel with 'tasteless hospital food'
