International Day of Persons with Disabilities; Yet Disabled Women in Afghanistan Spend the Nights Hungry

Photo: AP

December 3rd is International Day of Persons with Disabilities, but many women and girls with disabilities in Afghanistan complain about the additional challenges and hardships they face, saying they are living in difficult conditions.

These women, complaining about the non-payment of their three years' worth of salaries and benefits by the Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled under Taliban control, say that after losing their salaries, they have forgotten the pain of losing their limbs but carry the burden of hunger, poverty, and economic hardships on their weary shoulders.

Kobra, a 19-year-old war victim sitting in a corner of Kabul on an old wheelchair, says that after her disability allowance and benefits were cut off by the Taliban government, she has been forced to extend her hand in begging from dawn to dusk to feed herself and her family.

She says she is originally from Qala-e-Zal district in Kunduz province, but the fire of poverty forced her family to seek refuge in Kabul. "About nine years ago, when I returned home from school, there was a sudden terrifying noise. After that, I didn’t understand anything. I fell to the ground. I didn’t even feel any pain, but in front of me, there was a leg lying on the ground. I had become fainted. They took me to Kunduz Central Hospital, and today, this is the condition I am in."

Pointing toward her legs with her finger and speaking with a voice choked with emotion, Kobra says, "One of my legs was completely severed, and the other was severely injured. The doctors amputated it. I didn’t see anything myself, but people say the Taliban had targeted a National Army Ranger vehicle with a rocket, and by bad luck, I was also caught in the attack."

Kobra is not the only war victim whose economic poverty has led her to the streets of Kabul to beg, but Prima, another victim, lost not only her limbs but also her entire family when a Taliban mortar shell struck their house 14 years ago.

She says she is originally from Faryab province and now lives in a rented room in Herat city, but for the past five months, she has been unable to pay her rent.

Prima describes her living situation as follows: "It was almost fourteen years ago, on a Saturday, when we were sitting inside our house, and suddenly, our entire house collapsed. I couldn’t see anything; I was buried under the rubble. My father, three brothers, four sisters, and mother were all martyred together. The neighbors dug me out from under the debris, and for a year, my neighbor took care of me."

As she begins speaking, the grief of losing her family members and her limbs is renewed for Prima, and with tears and sorrow, she says, "Ten years ago, due to having no guardian, I was forced to marry an elderly man, 68 years old. But now, misfortune has once again come to me."

"I had no one, so I was forced to marry a man whose wife had passed away. My husband cannot do anywork. I have a six-year-old daughter who helps me move on my wheelchair, and every day I beg. I had an eight-year-old son who became ill and died. Every day, I beg from people and receive 50 to 100 Afghanis."

Khadija is another woman who lost her left leg in a traffic accident and is now forced to beg on the streets of Herat. She says that although her annual disability allowance is small, if it were paid, it would save her from begging.

Khadija, who has wrapped herself in a blue burqa to conceal her face, speaks with a sadness and painful voice, saying, "Sometimes I go to bed hungry at night. If I weren’t forced, why would I come out to beg? I was child when we were traveling to Badghis, the car overturned, and my leg was injured. We had economic problems and couldn't afford treatment, and in the end, the doctors had to amputate my leg. It's been a long time since anyone helped, and we didn’t have anything to eat for dinner. I went to bed without bread and woke up in the morning to beg again."

She continues her speech with tears and says, "Life is very hard. No one wants to marry someone who is disabled. I don’t have a breadwinner in the house, my father has passed away, and the government has cut our allowance in half. This year, they gave me eleven thousand Afghanis. How am I supposed to live for twelve months with just eleven thousand Afghanis?"

It is worth mentioning that the non-payment of allowances and rights to persons with disabilities has not only made life bitter for disabled women, but also many military and civilian disabled individuals have been deprived of their legal rights or have only received half of them since the fall of the republic system and the rise of the Taliban.