Living in a Nightmare
Written By Anonymous
A day before the collapse of Kabul, I was working at Presidential palace. Everything was normal. We continue our work like we did any other day. After finishing my work, when I reached my home, I received a letter on my mobile phone that our district will soon be under attack.
That night, the conditions of Kabul were completely changed. The harsh sound of helicopters hovering around in the air for long hours. The sounds of gunfire made children awestruck. We hid downstairs together with our family’s children. My nephews started crying.
All of us went into complete terror. Instantly in fear for our lives, because all my brothers were allies of US-forces and NATO, and I was humanitarian and women’s rights activist and working for Afghan government of the Islamic Republic.
After a few days, some siblings evacuated towards the US and UK; but myself, other siblings, and our parents were left in Afghanistan. The “police” of new regime came twice to our house to investigate my brothers and myself. I hid myself, and my mother told them that we all evacuated. I dodged a bullet.
As a humanitarian and women’s rights activist I hold the belief that an activist should silence his or her voice in critical and difficult time. For that reason, I continued to raised my voice about the abusive behavior against women and also the extremism or the Taliban-Haqqani regime. I’ve written lots of articles and stories about the dangerous conditions of women and, especially, our female students. I want to paint the subject clearly to show how Afghan women are suffering in these terrible times, under a regime we did not want.
Because of my activities, yesterday the surveillance of the new regime came once again to our house. They had been able to confirm that I’m still here in Afghanistan and am still continuing my activities. They were so obnoxious and rude. They threatened me, and ordered me to stop my activities, and not to meet with anyone after that. I’m so worried about my family, because I don’t want my voice to be silenced and stop my activities. If I gave up now, then I will lose the definition of my life.
Since the collapse of Kabul, we’re living in a nightmare which doesn’t have an ending. Hiding myself is a crucial thing I do in these days. As a women’s right activist, I always think that this world is only for men, and not for women, because of the comfortable and safe life men have. Lives in which everything is always easy for them to navigate, while in a woman’s life everything we face includes struggle and every decision causes a series of problems. I see it in my own family where my brothers were evacuated easily; but the women, most who are fully eligible for evacuation, still face threats on our lives.
Many people and the US government gave promises to support Afghans at-risk but it never seems to happen in any practical form. I beg you to help the eligible people here. They are living in a nightmare; they are living in a hell.