Soghra Ataei
What a petty! All those hard efforts ended to the Black Sunday. August 15, a day which 20 years of struggles and blood of many sacrifices who had lost their lives in trenches and as a result many hopes had shaped based on it, suddenly vanished. It was a day started as any normal day but ended with horror, disappointment and apprehension. I remained in Kabul for 60 days after 15 August. We lived in a environment full of fear and suffocation. I remained awake for many nights while holding the hands of my kids and prayed for the sound of the continuous gun fires may stop for a moment.
And displacement again
I was a refugee on 15 October, two months after the collapse of the Republic. What a tragic circle! And Maybe ridiculous. This time we were also light weight. My little daughter was 3. The same age when I immigrated for the first time. At that time, I thought me and more importantly my children would not experience such days. Displacement, confusion, a dark future, being away from the homeland, friends and relatives, without no income, while your children who have been deprived of education for 8 months, the darkest moments of your life, which you could not imagine them even in the worst scenarios for yourself and your family were the consequences of this tragedy. Your determination shall be stronger than the steel to remain firm so that disappointment and helplessness not to decay your soul. I am not made of Iron.
Our advocacy during the years we were in Afghanistan was not without costs. I was threatened as a women rights activist for several times. However, there was a law, state and judicial structure. They had shortcomings, but were not totally ineffective. As a result, though I had the chance to migrate during the 20 past years, and had travelled repeatedly to the western countries, but I wanted to stay in Afghanistan and it never occurred in my mind to stay abroad. But under a government with absolute horror and lack of any law and legal structures, returning to Afghanistan for people like me is too difficult and in fact it is impossible. But I have not given up. I have been in touch with women rights activists in Afghanistan and cooperated with them, and also I have written about the Taliban oppressions on women and would write in the future as well. Returning to the homeland, where girls are barred from education, for a mother of two girls, means burying their talent and fate.
Last but not the least
Millions of people have been displaced after the Republic collapse in Afghanistan. Many are living in the West and stay there. These people include cart men, journalists, civil and human rights activists, artists, athletes, MPs, ministers, and so on. I would like to mention 2 points here. First, there was no sound and defendable logic for the selection of the refugees. As a rule, there should be those prioritized who were at more risk, and living under the Taliban was not possible for them. But in action, it was not so. Many of those whose lives were really in danger either are in Afghanistan, living secretly accompanied by fear and stress, or they are in the neighboring countries setting behind the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. I am confused today although I had served in the highest positions and fought for realizing women’s rights. And there are many other people like me having the same fate. Second, it, unfortunately, looks as if the West applies dual standards in terms of refugees. Afghanistan and its refugees have been totally forgotten due to issues such as the Ukraine war. It may be justifiable based on the political concerns, but surely it is not a human act. The world shall not forget us and what ensures it, is the moral conscious of western societies. I, aside of those who are involved in shaping the public perception of the west, would like to urge them not to allow this moral conscious asleep due to political concerns.
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