Numerous people are fleeing the Taliban. This is particularly difficult for women – and that’s when they need it.
Kabul – After the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, the US, Germany and other Western allies are trying to evacuate their nationals and local residents who have worked with them from the airport in Kabul. Desperate people who somehow want to flee the Taliban and even try to hold on to airplanes create chaos.
Afghanistan: The desperate situation of women in the country – evacuation difficult
Andrea Mitchell, foreign policy correspondent for the US television channel MSNBC, explains that so far hardly any women have been evacuated from Afghanistan. In the political program “The 11th Hour”, the journalist describes that women are afraid to leave their homes and show themselves in public.
The Taliban are already moving from house to house kidnapping girls, Mitchell said. The small achievements of the last 20 years, education and minimal gains in freedom for women in the country, would already be wiped out by the Taliban. From a humanitarian perspective, it is to be hoped that as many women as possible can be evacuated, continued Andrea Mitchell. However, she was pessimistic: There is no way to get to the airport.
Human rights activist on the situation of Afghan women: “You are screwed”
On Monday (August 16, 2021) Andrea Mitchell spoke to human rights activist Kimberly Motley, who has been to Afghanistan several times. Motley criticized the US “haphazard” withdrawal from Afghanistan. He is a “human rights abomination”. There are 20 million Afghan women. “They’re all screwed,” said Kimberly Motley.
It makes no sense that the US has no plan to save the people who have worked with them, especially the women in Afghanistan. Motley highlights the special responsibility to help Afghan women. The first step must be to negotiate safe transit for people.
The Federal Government Commissioner for Migration, Refugees and Integration, Annette Widmann-Mauz (CDU), also called for the women and girls at risk to be brought to safety. She too sees Germany and the world as responsible.
Women in Afghanistan: “Hard-won rights are being snatched away”
International observers are also concerned about the fate of women in Afghanistan. According to UN information, the Taliban are already committing serious human rights violations against the civilian population. “Particularly appalling and heartbreaking” are reports “according to which Afghan girls and women are being wrested from their hard-won rights,” said UN Secretary General António Guterres on Friday (13.08.2021).
Fear, despair and disappointment shape the current situation of women in Afghanistan. Prominent Afghan women have spoken on Twitter. “I start my day with a look at the empty streets of Kabul,” writes the right activist and politician Fausia Koofi, who worked as deputy parliamentary speaker. “History repeats itself so quickly.” “Fear sits in your chest like a black bird,” is how university professor Muska Dastageer describes her desperation.
Situation of women in Afghanistan: They are being removed from public space
“My beloved Afghanistan collapsed before my eyes,” writes photographer Rada Akbar. One of Akbar’s most recent photographs has achieved notoriety: it shows a man painting over advertising photos of smiling brides in front of a hairdressing salon. “He removes women from public spaces,” says Akbar. At the beginning of the year, the 33-year-old was threatened because of her pictures showing powerful women in the country. “I want to become invisible and hide from the world,” she says.
During the first Taliban rule, women were not allowed to go to school, university or work. Afghan women were only allowed out of the house with a male companion. They had to be completely veiled in public. (Max Schäfer with afp)
