Afghanistan; Geography of Violence Against Women

November 25th is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women; but, in Afghanistan, violence in every sense has rooted deeply in every aspect of women's lives, intertwined with every moment of their existence, to the extent that the phenomenon of violence has become an inseparable part of the lives of women and girls in this country.

Setara, a 15-year-old girl from Herat, once dreamed of becoming a pilot, hoping that one day she would soar above Afghanistan in a military aircraft, gazing at the land below. Every morning, she would tuck her books under her arm and head to school. However, now, with a voice filled with sorrow, a throat choked with emotion, and a body trembling from the pain and suffering, she says that with the rise of the Taliban and the ban on girls' education, not only has she not achieved her dream, but she has also experienced childhood motherhood, divorce, widowhood, and the burden of being the breadwinner for her family.

She, just as she holds the strands of black wool, like her life, to weave them into a corner of her carpet, narrates her life’s hardships: "The rhythm of life did not dance to our tune. I was in seventh grade when the Taliban declared it forbidden for us to go to school. I, like thousands of other sisters, became a housebound girl. My father said I had to marry my cousin. I refused, but by force, he made me marry. Truly, my father sold me to fill his stomach. Seven months passed since my wedding, and he divorced me."

Tears and crying no longer allow Setara peace. As she holds a corner of her scarf with her right hand and wipes away her tears, she says: "The Taliban showed no mercy to me, it was the people. But why did my father, who I was a part of, do this to me? Right now, neither my father provides food and expenses for me and my child, nor do I have anyone else. It has been two and a half years since my divorce and marriage."

Setara, who once shone like a star among dozens of other girls and was the top student from first to seventh grade, now carries the sorrow of not having a guardian along with the responsibility of her eight-month-old child.

Although Afghanistan has long been a place of violence for girls and women, with the return of the Taliban to power, life for millions of women and girls in Afghanistan has once again turned into a life in hell.

Over three years since the Taliban’s gender-apartheid rule and the imposition of restrictions on work, activity, education, and learning for women and girls, the group has adopted its official and systematic policy of misogyny.

Ayla Mohammadi, a 16-year-old girl and a resident of Daikundi province, still spends her nights haunted by nightmares of prison and the Taliban's whip, two years after the bitter reality of being publicly flogged.

She says that for the crime of going to the Daikundi market with her cousin, she was arrested, imprisoned, and publicly flogged by the Taliban: "My father is in Iran, and I had no one else. I went to the market with my cousin to buy household items, but the Islamic Emirate forces arrested me, accusing me of going out with a non-mahram. They told me he was my boyfriend. We were imprisoned for two months, and every day they beat us with cables and whips."

Ayla, with tearful eyes, continues her words and adds: "They would tie my hands with handcuffs. I was in an underground prison. After two months, they took me to a public square in front of all the people and lashed me 100 times for the crime of adultery. The burning sensation from the 100 lashes that the Taliban gave me in front of the public is engraved in my mind, my thoughts, and my bones. I will never forget how they unjustly tarnished my reputation."

Aisha, another girl deprived of education and suffering from depression, has sought refuge in a carpet weaving workshop to find the funds for her treatment. However, she says that not only is she facing the injustice imposed on women and girls by the Taliban, but the oppression from her father is no less than that of the Taliban.

"Last year, I went to school for the last time. When we finished sixth grade, the Taliban said we couldn’t go to school anymore. I became a housebound girl and fell into depression. I always cry. I’m sick, and for my treatment, I came to weave carpets. But my father takes the two thousand Afghanis I earn in a month. My father is even more cruel than the Taliban. I’m sick, weaving carpets so I can see a doctor, but my father says, ‘Why should a girl go to the doctor?’"

While girls and women share bitter and harrowing accounts of the violence they face from the Taliban and domestic abuse, this year, on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls, various domestic and international organizations, including the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belgium, Amnesty International, the Afghan Center for Legal Studies and Research, and protest movements, once again called for an end to the violence against women and girls in Afghanistan in their statements.