14 Aug “The World Has Turned Away Because There Is No Political Profit In This Pain”
This month will mark the 4th anniversary of the Taliban’s domination of Afghanistan. For many, Afghanistan’s crisis is an “old story.” It is not breaking news anymore, not exciting enough for headlines, because our country has been in conflict for more than four decades, used again and again as a proxy battleground for the interests of powerful nations.
In August 2021, after 20 years of NATO and international presence in the name of “fighting terrorism,” the fate of our people was once again handed to the Taliban. Through a signed agreement, they were effectively reinstalled. Since that day, they have stripped away rights from everyone — but especially from women and girls.
Women and girls are forbidden to study, to work, or to participate in any public life. They are banned from sports and even from simple joys such as going to a gym. Beauty salons are closed. Personal freedoms, like wearing makeup or cutting one’s hair, are policed. Dress codes are strictly imposed. Freedom of speech is completely banned. Women are forced into their homes to serve only as wives and mothers.
Thousands of children are now sent to madrassas where they are indoctrinated, denied real education, and shaped into a narrow, fundamentalist worldview — one that fuels violence and entrenches anti-women attitudes. Girls with dreams and ambitions are left hopeless, their spirits silently dying.
In recent weeks, Taliban fascism in Kabul has intensified its brutal crackdown, detaining women and girls without explanation and taking them to secret locations. Families are left desperate, with no news of their loved ones.
The morality police have been seizing women for allegedly not following the rules, raiding public spaces like restaurants, hospitals, markets, and streets, as well as private homes. Secret beauty parlors are violently shut down. This ruthless campaign has created widespread fear, forcing many women and girls to hide indoors, terrified to step outside or do anything.
Since June, Taliban fascism has grown stronger day by day, suffocating women and punishing them simply for being women. Can one imagine? We are talking about a country just hours away from much of the world, yet living in the 21st century as if in the medieval era.
Unfortunately, governments and international media remain completely silent. Amid this crisis, some visitors from Europe — including a few women influencers — are shamelessly traveling to Afghanistan as tourists and publicly praising it, claiming there is peace and that it is safe for women. Such portrayals are deeply troubling because they ignore and distort the harsh realities faced by countless Afghan women every day.
In many countries, Afghan refugees are seen as a burden. But no one wants to leave their country, their roots, if their homeland is in peace. Yet with Afghanistan constantly and deliberately destabilized to serve the political interests of global and regional powers, it has become unbearable to live there. The inhuman forced deportation of Afghans from Pakistan and Iran is a stark example of the hostility and neglect shown by neighboring countries.
This raises questions about human nature and compassion itself. It feels as if true humanity is slowly fading into the past.
The world has turned away because there is no political profit in this pain. But history will remember.