From AOL/AP:
“50 days of the Taliban:
Interpreters and LGBT citizens hiding for their lives”
Afghans facing oppression from
the Taliban are living in hiding, with one saying “there is no normal life” for
them now. Tuesday marked 50 days since the last UK and US troops left the
country. Since August there have been allegations of reprisal killings by the
Taliban of former Afghan security forces, as well as beatings, violence and
oppressive practices. The PA news agency spoke to some of those affected,
including those who worked with western countries, female students and LGBT
citizens, their names have been changed for their own security.
(Mohammad while he worked for the
British embassy in Kabul as a CCTV operator)
Bahar worked as an interpreter
with the British Army in Afghanistan around 10 years ago. His work with the UK
means he now fears for his life and has been forced into hiding with his wife
and two young daughters, who he fears will be unable to attend school. “Day by
day the situation is getting bad for me and my family,” he told PA. “I don’t
think there will be a good future for me, for my children… they will never get
anything in Afghanistan.” Bahar also said that the Taliban presence in the
streets has increased as the group attempted to enforce certain rules. “When
you are going out, everywhere there are checkpoints,” he said. “The Taliban…
sometimes they are talking about the beards – ‘Why you don’t have beard? Why
you were wearing the t-shirt? You must wear the Afghan clothes, you must have
the beard.'” Mohammad meanwhile is part of a group of seven trapped
interpreters with more than 40 years of service between them in various roles
alongside British forces in Afghanistan. “We are trying to survive… there is no
normal life for me,” Mohammad told PA. “During the night time Taliban forces
raid houses of former government officials and those allied of foreign forces.”
Mohammad is in contact with his family via phone calls, frequently changing his
number to avoid detection. He fears for the future of his young children, and
is concerned they “may get brainwashed by the Taliban” in their schools.
Bibi – a university student –
said “everything seems so dark for me” after she and her classmates were sent
home by Taliban members. “We went to university, me and my friends,” she told
PA. “They are not allowing us to go inside. “They said ‘you girls should go
back home and work at home and pray. “You don’t deserve to study, it’s not good
for you.’ “We came back home with so many disappointments.” Bibi hopes to find
a scholarship so she can study in another country. “There are so many
limitations for women – how should they dress, how should they appear in
society, where should they go and where should they not go,” she said. “I feel
so upset about everything and everyone, especially for my intelligent
classmates, how eagerly they studied.”
Nemat Sadat, a gay
Afghan-American activist from San Diego, California, said he had been contacted
by more than 500 LGBTQ+ Afghans through social media after he started a
GoFundMe page to help them reach safety in other countries. “Many are in
terrible economic situations, many cannot work and are sitting at home hiding
on rooftops and in closets,” the 42-year-old author told PA. The activist said
he spoke to one man who had been evading capture since his partner was beheaded
by Taliban fighters. In another instance, a lesbian woman reached out to Mr
Sadat for help because she said her ex-husband was “hunting her”, planning to
hand her over to the Taliban who “will probably stone her to death”.
Abdullah, who worked for the BBC,
is in hiding in Afghanistan, he said his country had become the “worst place in
the world” to be a journalist. “Nothing has changed positively,” he said. People are dying from hunger. People cannot
afford to buy five breads to feed their children. The health system is
collapsing. Everyone is afraid of their future. “The Taliban are suppressing
minorities. “We have seen an increase in terrorist attacks on Shia people, a
minority group. “The West needs to provide urgent humanitarian aid to those in
need. “If the world remains silent and does not take urgent action, Afghanistan
will face a humanitarian catastrophe.”
^ Today is 50 days since Biden
and the World left Afghanistan. In these 50 days the Taliban, Al Qaida and ISIS
are going around torturing, beating and killing ordinary Afghans.
They are also going around and
singling-out Western Citizens (including Americans) and any Afghans who helped
us over the past 20 years. Biden and the rest of the world continue to break
their promise of "Getting them out."
Afghan women can’t go to school, can’t go to work and in many cases can’t even leave the house without a male family member being with them.
The world needs to demand the Taliban stop their torture and killing of Dissidents and let Women go back to school and work and also get Western Citizens and our Afghan Allies out of the country.
50 days and counting. ^
https://www.aol.com/50-days-taliban-interpreters-lgbt-133452027.html
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.