WelCom October 2022
Muzhgan Samarqandi
Muzhgan is a former TV and radio broadcaster from Baghlan, Afghanistan. She now lives in Wellington, New Zealand with her Kiwi husband and their son, and works part-time as a cross-cultural adviser and interpreter. Muzhgan and her husband met at a peace-building conference in Panchgani, India, and lived together in Egypt before moving to New Zealand in 2020.
It is now more than one year since the fall of Kabul, and the return of terrorist rule in Afghanistan, my homeland. On 15 August 2022, we briefly remembered that horrifying sequence of events from a year ago, and revisited the shocking images of crowds of people scrambling to escape, screaming children clinging to their parents’ arms and legs, desperate adults clinging to the landing gear of moving planes, only to be crushed or thrown to their death during take-off, and packs of unruly young men armed with Kalashnikovs, roaming the streets and terrorising public spaces.
On 15 August 2021, I was glued to my TV and phone, day and night, watching these scenes in despair, and in constant contact with my friends and family in Afghanistan, all trying to escape. I made calls and sent emails and submitted and supported applications for evacuation. Most of them were unsuccessful. Most were not even responded to. Some of these people are still trying to get out, and many in Afghanistan are still suffering, every day, at the hands of the Taliban. In particular, Hazaras, Tajiks, Uzbeks, women, and members of the rainbow community, are all being targeted for their identity (which does not fit the ethnocentric hegemonic norms of the Taliban).
So, as the anniversary of 15 August fades from memory, I ask you not to think of the fall of Afghanistan as a moment in history. Our people, society, and culture continue to be brought down every day by terrorists. Most girls are still being excluded from secondary school throughout the country. Most women, young and old, are still being denied jobs, careers, and any opportunity to participate in society. Many are being beaten, raped, and forced into marriage, with no recourse or access to justice. Some are marrying out of necessity or desperation, or to avoid being married to a door-knocking Talib.
At the same time, our people are experiencing increasingly widespread famine and devastating poverty. Increasing numbers are resorting to selling dangerous volumes of blood and bodily organs. (Precious furniture and family heirlooms are long gone.) Millions are internally displaced, thousands are dying of starvation, and countless members of targeted communities are being abused, forcibly removed from their homes, arbitrarily detained and executed.
Meanwhile, Taliban officials continue to reiterate empty promises, deny knowledge of any such atrocities, and travel the world in luxury, to meet with an international community that continues to afford them the legitimacy of diplomacy.
The fall of Afghanistan is a daily occurrence, but so too is the courageous act of getting up again.
The evidence of an unchanged or even more radicalised Taliban is overwhelming. Yet, the increasing divergence between this reality, and that which the Taliban asserts and which the international community and some media outlets willingly accept, is nauseating. I think this, in itself, reflects the further fall of Afghanistan from the regard and concern of those in positions of privilege around the world (perhaps they don’t care anymore, or enough to engage, and perhaps they never did). I also think this reflects the fact that the Taliban’s power relies on external support and validation.
In this light, I also ask you not to think of the fall of Afghanistan as inevitable, or as an isolated phenomenon. It was a direct result of political and strategic decisions made by numerous parties, and it has a direct impact on both regional and global security. The US decided to withdraw, according to their own timeframe, and unilaterally entered into partnership with, and empowered, the Taliban on this basis. With the benefit of that deal, the Taliban had no need or incentive to engage with domestic parties who were promoting legitimacy through a legitimate political process.
We know that this has paved the way for increased terrorist activity and connectivity in the region. Terrorist groups from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, have rediscovered safe haven in Afghanistan, and Al Qaeda leaders are again freely operating within its borders. Of course, the US understands that terrorism in Afghanistan is linked with international terrorism. That is why it intervened in our country in response to 9/11, and why this was the chosen site for retaliation – and our people paid the price – when not a single one of the perpetrators was from Afghanistan.
However, when it suited, the US and its supporting parties chose to abandon Afghanistan, and those resisting the Taliban, as if they bore no responsibility for our fate. The abrupt and unilateral nature of the withdrawal was inconsistent with justifications for intervention in the first place. It was also inconsistent with the best interests of anyone in Afghanistan, other than the Taliban and its supporters.
It is important that people understand this, that the fall of Afghanistan was not an inevitable or isolated phenomenon, so they appreciate the impact of their own engagement. Otherwise, foreigners tend to approach our country as an arena for extreme tourism and journalism, a place to dance with the wolves for the thrill of it, or the kudos for doing so. They think it interesting and harmless to present the ‘other side’ of the Taliban. Whereas, in reality, this normalises and legitimises terrorism, and causes significant harm.
It is also important that people understand our country’s demise is not a done deal, and so the way they engage with it can play an important part in shaping its future. The failures of the past point to the fact that peace- and nation-building must be led by local expertise, in a genuinely representative way. But the interconnectedness of regional and international conflicts, and the ongoing reality of foreign interference, mean the world cannot simply turn its back on Afghanistan, even if it does not sit within Europe (and even if our people are not blonde-haired and blue-eyed, like Ukrainians).
Finally, at this time, I ask you not to think of our people, and especially our women, as victims or objects of inquiry. We are the bearers of a rich cultural inheritance and resilience; we carry the spiritual, scientific and literary wisdom of our ancestors, and have preserved these treasures in the face of relentless conflict and invasion. We are strong and innovative people, and as we have been dispersed by war and terrorism, we have taken our talents to the corners of the earth. So, listen to our voices and stories; do not document us as animals in a zoo, or patronise us as helpless victims.
The image of the defenceless woman victim to the violent Muslim man, to be rescued by the heroic Western solider, was the basis on which popular support was gained for military intervention in Afghanistan. Those of us (women of Afghanistan) living in the West are reminded of this every time we are told how lucky we are to be here, and how awful it must have been back home. But those ‘heroes’ left, and the vast majority of women of Afghanistan were left behind, and they are the ones who continue to resist, rise up against the Taliban, and raise their voices, even still today.
Even one year on, even in the face of violent suppression of freedom and brutal retaliation for political demonstration, our women continue to take to the streets in protest. They refuse to accept terrorism as the status quo. They insist upon their rights and express their defiant hope for the future of Afghanistan, as they are responded to with bullets. These women, and those of Iran now similarly taking to the streets in the name of Jina Mahsa Amini (murdered for incorrectly wearing a hijab), embody the bravery of true heroism (see the fear it inspires in their armed oppressors).
I simply ask that you do not avert your eyes, and do not remove yourself from this reality, or reduce it to something it is not.
The fall of Afghanistan is a daily occurrence, but so too is the courageous act of getting up again. Our people continue to get up and resist terrorism, in whatever ways they can, and we will yet prevail!
Continue to pray for Ukraine, but do not forget Afghanistan.