It’s only been 16 months since the U.S. pulled out of Afghanistan, allowing the Taliban to seize control of the country, but the Afghan people have lost many basic human rights and freedoms during that time. Especially hard-hit have been minorities and women.
Probably no ethnic group has suffered more than the Hazaras. They also form the bulk of what remains of an internal resistance to Taliban rule. What’s happening to Afghan girls and women is truly intolerable in any version of a civilized world.
Over those same 16 months, I have been able to publish secret reports from inside Afghanistan from a young friend of mine. He is Hazara, well-educated, and has the eye and the soul of a writer. His language is Dari and he works inside a government bureaucracy. Gradually, he has been learning to write in English so that people in the West might learn of his people’s fate.
I am keeping his identity confidential for obvious reasons, but to date, I have managed to publish 50 of his exclusive reports.
This final week of 2022, as I look back at the most significant work I have presented in this newsletter, none ranks higher than the reports from my Afghan correspondent. With respect, I republish today the very first of his 50 reports from August 2021.
Sadly, it has proved to be prescient.
1. A Letter From Helmand -- نامه ای از هیرمند
Dear David:
I'm talking from Helmand, a key city for (the) Taliban.
Helmand and Kandahar were/are at the center of their jihad; the Taliban have been more active here than anywhere else.
The people are working as always, but everyone is so desperate because of their future, especially the Hazara people and government employees. They are worried whether they will receive their allotted pay or not, will they still be employed, if paid, how and when will they receive their pay, and how will the Taliban treat them in the future?
There are a lot of questions that people are concerned about. The people are pessimistic about the future. They are trying to find a way to get out of the country.
The women are not seen in the bazaar and street as they were before. We are seeing changes in the clothes of women and men. Women wear very loose clothes and burqas while men are wearing turbans and caps.
We are hearing that the Taliban enquire about the dress of women and it is being said that the Taliban have punished and flagellated women if they wear jeans or tight clothes. The Taliban have said to shopkeepers that they are not allowed to sell anything to women who don't cover their face.
The city has almost all men, no women around.
The TV has changed their broadcast and series. Now they are playing Islamic series and reading of Quran. We aren't seeing female executives on TVs.
Food, car rental and gasoline are very expensive. It is impossible to make a new home or find work in Iran and Pakistan because of the deluge of refugees.
NEWS LINKS:
Russia fires barrage of missiles on Ukraine cities, energy grid (Reuters)
Russia’s New Winter War. Could Putin Go the Way of Napoleon and Hitler? (FA)
U.S. Scrambles to Stop Iran From Providing Drones for Russia (NYT)
Inside the Ukrainian counteroffensive that shocked Putin and reshaped the war (WP)
G7 tell Taliban to reverse ‘reckless and dangerous’ ban on female aid workers (Guardian)
Kabul professor tears up diplomas on live TV to protest Taliban ban on women’s education (CNN)
Depriving Afghan women of an education would benefit no one (Al Jazeera)
Women in Afghanistan are 'serving life sentence', says journalist (Independent)
Banning education for Afghan women runs counter to Islamic teachings (Globe and Mail)
Taliban’s unprovoked war on women (Punch)
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