From Reuters:
“Afghanistan's 'Gen Z' fears
for future and hard-won freedoms”
When 20-year-old Salgy found out
last week that she had topped some 200,000 students who took Afghanistan's
university entrance exam this year, she was elated. For months, she had locked
herself away in her room in the capital Kabul to study, sometimes forgetting to
eat. With her family crowding round their solar-powered TV as the results came
in, she realised her hard work had paid off. "That was a moment when I
felt someone gifted me the whole world," Salgy, who like many in the
country goes by one name, told Reuters. "My mother cried out of happiness
and I cried with her." That feeling turned almost immediately to worry
when she remembered the events of the previous weeks. Following the withdrawal
of the bulk of the remaining U.S. forces in Afghanistan, the Taliban began a
lightning advance across the country, culminating in the fall of Kabul on Aug.
15. "We are faced with a very uncertain future, thinking what will happen next,"
Salgy told Reuters. "I think I am the luckiest and unluckiest
person."
Almost two third of Afghans are
under the age of 25, and an entire generation cannot even remember the Taliban,
who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until it was toppled by Western-backed militia
in 2001. During that time they enforced a strict interpretation of Islamic law,
banning girls from school, women from work and carrying out public executions.
Since 2001, the militants fought an insurgency in which thousands of Afghans
died. Since re-taking power, the group has been quick to reassure students that
their education would not be disrupted, also saying it would respect the rights
of women and urging talented professionals not to leave the country. But used
to a life with cellphones, pop music and mixing of genders, Afghanistan's
"Generation Z" – born roughly in the decade around the turn of the
millennium - now fears some freedoms will be taken away, according to
interviews with half a dozen Afghan students and young professionals. "I
made such big plans, I had all these high reaching goals for myself that
stretched to the next 10 years," said Sosan Nabi, a 21-year-old graduate. "We
had a hope for life, a hope for change. But in just one week, they took over
the country and in 24 hours they took all our hopes, dreams snatched from in
front of our eyes. It was all for nothing." A Taliban spokesperson did not
immediately respond to questions for this article.
HARD-WON FREEDOMS On the
morning of Aug. 15, as the Taliban neared Kabul, 26-year-old Javid rushed home
from the university where he worked after graduating. He declined to give his
full name out of fear of reprisals. He deleted all emails and social
media messages he had shared with foreign organizations and governments,
especially the United States. He took hard copies of certificates given
by U.S.-funded development programs to the backyard of his house and set them
on fire. He broke a glass trophy received for that work against the floor. Many
Afghans working for overseas organisations have tried to flee the country in
the last two weeks. With little to go on but stories from parents about
the Taliban, some young people said they were afraid, whatever the reality of
the situation on the ground. The first time many of them ever saw
members of the group was patrolling streets after their conquest of Kabul. Besides
safety, young people Reuters spoke to said they worried other hard-won freedoms
could be taken away. Secondary school enrolment rose from 12% in 2001 to
55% in 2018, according to the World Bank. From a time when a single
state-owned radio station broadcast mainly calls to prayer and religious
teachings, Afghanistan now has an estimated 170 radio stations, over 100
newspapers and dozens of TV stations. That's not to mention smartphones
and the Internet – non-existent under Taliban rule – giving young people access
to events beyond Afghanistan's borders, said Elaha Tamim, an 18-year-old who
also just passed her university entrance exam. "It is something we
all use at all times," she said. "We use it for entertainment when we
want to relax, it's our way of discovering what's happening in the rest of the
world. I don't want to lose that."
WOMEN'S RIGHTS Some young
women are particularly concerned by the Taliban's victory. The number of
girls in primary school rose from effectively zero under the Taliban to over
80%, according the World Bank. The Taliban has said it will respect the
rights of girls to go to school this time around, though Javid said many female
students at his university had stopped coming to class out of fear. "I grew up in an environment where
we were free, we could go to school, we could go out and about," Tamim
said. "My mother tells stories of her bitter time (under the Taliban).
Those stories are frightening." Ammar Yasir, a member of the
Taliban's political office in Doha, personally congratulated Salgy - the
student who topped the university entrance exams - on Twitter for her results,
and for gaining admission to medical school. She now hopes to fulfill
her dream of becoming a doctor, despite the uncertainty. "If the
Taliban allow girls access to higher education and they don't create barriers
for them then that is good, otherwise my whole life's struggle is at
risk," she said. Despite the assurances, some people Reuters spoke
to said they were desperate to leave, but didn't know how. "If I
thought me staying here would bring any hope of a positive change then I would
be ready, like the thousands of other young people, to give up my life for
it," Naby said. "But we all know that isn't a reality."
^ It is extremely sad to think
that Afghanistan went from a modern and open society to a backyards Islamist
Terrorist Dictatorship all in a matter of 11 days. It seems all the hard work
and freedoms that were gained over the past 20 years have simply disappeared. The
Taliban say they have changed, but so-far their actions do not support that. ^
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