THIS IS A VERY DIFFERENT AFGHANISTAN
After the Taliban’s shocking return to power, foreign correspondent Christina Lamb talks to women there about what they have lost
the morning after Malala’s surprise wedding in November, there was no lazy breakfast in bed for the 24-year-old and her dashing new husband. Instead, she was up at 7.30am to Skype a classroom of girls in Herat to highlight her concern that Afghanistan is the only place on earth where girls are not allowed to go to high school.
One of the class’s brave pupils, 15year-old Sotooda, had used a ceremony attended by Taliban leadership – at which she was supposed to read a religious poem – to instead deliver a message she said was in all their hearts. ‘We all know that Herat is a city of knowledge,’ she said, ‘why should the schools be closed to girls?’ Her talk went viral and her school was allowed to reopen. Most, however, remain closed.
The lightning takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban in mid-august, almost 20 years after their previous regime was toppled by Western forces, was one of the biggest shocks in recent history. Their return spelt utter humiliation for NATO forces, which had been fighting with far superior firepower, weaponry and numbers, as well as pumping billions into creating an Afghan army that, in the end, simply melted away. But for the majority of Afghans, it was their worst nightmare, illustrated by horrific scenes of people flooding Kabul airport and desperately clinging on to planes as they took off.
No one was more horrified than women. ‘We have lost everything,’ said Massouma, who struggled for years to become a theatre director and is now breadwinner for her four children because her husband is a heroin addict. ‘Our dreams have been dashed overnight.’
From women judges and MPS to female musicians and footballers, many have fled or are in hiding, fearing reprisals from a regime that, last time round, outlawed music and banned girls from school and sport and women from work. That’s not all. Women were forced to wear burqas and not allowed
outside without a male escort. Even wearing nail varnish was taboo.
As someone who has been reporting from Afghanistan for 33 years, going back shortly after this second Taliban takeover felt as if all the life been sucked out of the place. This was a very different Afghanistan to the one where girls had grown up believing any career was open to them. Many of my interviews ended in tears. When the heart disappeared from the ‘I ❤ Kabul’ sign at the airport, it seemed to sum up the situation. Not a day passes without more Whatsapps from female friends desperate to find a way out.
Four months on, women have still not been allowed back to work, apart from teachers, nurses and toilet cleaners. The rest are still stuck at home. But some brave women are starting to test whether the Taliban have, as they claim, changed.
A few have continued to work as anchors at TOLO TV, if dressed more conservatively.
While there are almost no women to be seen on the streets, inside a beauty salon in Kabul, Fadiba and her team are busy blow-drying hair, sculpting eyebrows and applying make-up. ‘We reopened in fear,’ she said. ‘Every day we expect to be closed. But what else are we going to do? Stay at home like cows in a shed? That’s no life.’
Business is poor. With few women venturing out, takings are just $110 a month, a tenth of what they used to be. The faces of glamorous models on the posters outside have all been scratched out.
It’s not just fear that is keeping clients away, but also the economic situation. Afghanistan is a country completely dependent on foreign aid. Since the Taliban took over, the $9 billion in government assets has been frozen in international banks and no money is coming in. This means no one has been paid for months – teachers, nurses, civil servants have all been working for nothing.
On the streets people are selling humble possessions to feed their children – even kettles and mattresses. In almost every hospital there are children dying of malnutrition. Aid agencies warn that more than 95% of the population is likely to be below the poverty line in months. So bad is the situation that some are even selling their babies.
In a story with no real good guys, no one knows what lies ahead. What is clear in this mountainous country, where many villages will soon be cut off, is it’s going to be a long, hungry winter.
Christina Lamb is chief foreign correspondent of ‘The Sunday Times’ and author of ‘Farewell Kabul’ (£12.99, William Collins) Donate to afghanaid.org.uk to support those affected by the crisis
GIRLS HAD GROWN UP BELIEVING ANY CAREER WAS OPEN TO THEM