The Fourth Anniversary of Afghan Girls’ Nightmare; From Forced Marriage to Forced Sexual Intercourse by the Taliban

Four years after the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, the lives of thousands of girls have turned into a dark nightmare, a nightmare that began with the closing of the gates of education and learning, and has reached a painful yet unfinished point in forced marriages.

Millions of young girls who, until four years ago, spoke together about their girlish dreams in universities, schools, and educational centers, now weep in silence, worried about a life filled with coercion.

These girls, who until yesterday were top students, hardworking university attendees, or hopeful young women, are now imprisoned within the four walls of their homes, and from within this domestic confinement, they have fallen into marriages that were never their own choice.

Ferishta (pseudonym), a 17-year-old girl from Herat province, has not only been confined to her home following the ban on girls attending school, but has also fallen victim to forced marriage. Speaking to Zan News, she says:

“Since the school was closed, everything has changed. At first, it was just the sadness of not studying, but after a few months, my family said there was no reason to stay at home anymore and that I had to get married. I did not want to, but nobody asked me. They forced me to marry a man who is 45 years old. I really cannot live with this person, but what is the use; three years have passed since my marriage and the start of my misery.”

Like Ferishta, dozens of other girls in Ghor, Badghis, Farah, and other provinces of the country have similar stories. They are victims of family pressure, deprivation of education, and social conditions in which, from the Taliban’s perspective, being a woman or a girl is equal to silence, servitude, and obedience to men.

From Taliban Pressure to Social and Family Pressures

A traditional society that has now become more conservative than ever under the shadow of the Taliban has stripped girls of the opportunity to make decisions for themselves. Families that once had big dreams for their daughters now only think of a “secure future” in the form of their marriage.

Zohra, a resident of Badghis province and mother of four daughters, told Zan News:

“Since the schools closed, my daughters have stayed at home without work. When a girl stays at home and has nothing to do, people’s eyes and everyone’s tongue start to open to talk behind a young girl’s back. Everyone says so-and-so’s daughter has grown up, she must get married. We too were forced to marry off two of our daughters; although they were not happy, their father gave them away by force. Their father said people’s words bring disgrace.”

For girls deprived of school and education, forced marriage is not the end of their deprivation; it is the beginning of a new cycle of violence. Many of them go to homes where they are denied the right to speak, make decisions, or even take part in the affairs of life.

Most of these girls are minors whom the Taliban’s misogynistic and gender-segregated policy has forced into motherhood while they themselves are still children.

Nazila, a 16-year-old girl from Ghor province, who says she was forced by her family to marry a Herati merchant, speaks in a tearful voice about the hardships of her life:

“I never wanted to get married. By God, it is a shame, all my peers in our village laugh at me for becoming a mother. I now have a six-month-old daughter, but I pray her father will not sell her for the sake of his name and honor like he did to me. I had studied until grade six when the Taliban came, then my father decided to give me to a Herati merchant for 4 million Afghanis.”

Nazila, as she wiped her tears with the corner of her yellow scarf, said:

“My father sold me; now his honor is intact and he is rich, but he does not know that he has thrown his daughter, who is still a child, into hell. He has no idea of the pain I endure.”

Silent Cries Behind the Walls

Uzra, a 17-year-old girl from Farah province, shared a horrifying account in a voice message to a Zan News reporter:

“I only wanted to study and become a teacher. Now I cry at night because I am not even allowed to look at my books. My husband says, what does a woman have to do with books? I did not want to get married, but my husband, who is a Talib, had told my father that either he would kill him or my father would give me to him. One night, a mullah and two Taliban came to our house and married me to the Talib. That same night, he slept with me. What is our crime? Just because we are girls?”

Nazila, Uzra, Zohra, and Ferishta are not the only victims of the Taliban’s restrictions; in the four years of this group’s rule, millions of women and girls have been deprived of their basic rights and have suffered from mental illnesses, forced marriages, imprisonment by the Taliban, and even suicide.

In a country where the Taliban have restricted even a woman’s right to walk alone in the street, girlish dreams are being extinguished one by one.