This Article is From Aug 16, 2021

"No Freedom For Women": Afghans In India Helpless Amid Chaos Back Home

Reactions from Afghan nationals who have settled in India continue to pour in after Taliban captured Afghanistan and visuals from their home country showed the devastation there.

Arfah left Afghanistan four years ago and is living in Delhi at present.

New Delhi:

An Afghan national living in Delhi said she left her country four years ago as there was no freedom there and that the Taliban's return to power is only going to make things worse for the residents in Afghanistan.

"Compared to Delhi, there is less freedom in Afghanistan. It is just not about freedom of clothes but also freedom of mind," Arfah said.

Reactions from Afghan nationals who have settled in India continue to pour in as visuals from their home country have not only shocked them but the entire world.

Taliban entered the capital Kabul on Sunday, after a series of provincial capitals fell in rapid succession in Afghanistan and the nation's president, Ashraf Ghani, fled abroad. Thousands of people mobbed the Kabul airport trying to flee the Taliban's feared hardline brand of Islamist rule.

Reflecting on why she had left Afghanistan, Ms Arfah said, "I left the country four years ago because there are a lot of problems for women there. Women don't easily get permission to study and work over there or move about easily. They are forcefully married. Taliban says they want to peacefully resort to things, but they always attack. How do we trust them? There is rampant kidnapping and rape too."

The Taliban has been known for running a brutal form of Islamist government when they ruled between 1996 and 2001 -- confining women to home, forbidding entertainment and publicly beating and executing prisoners. Women were also required to wear the all-enveloping burqa cloak in public.

On the crisis and human tragedy unfolding in Afghanistan, Ms Arfah said, "My extended family wants to leave but where do they go? There are no routes. They all are under a lockdown in their homes... Ever since I saw what was unfolding in Afghanistan, I am so sad I can't express in enough words. There is so much anger within me."

Desperate scenes played out at Kabul's international airport on Monday as thousands rushed to exit Afghanistan, with Reuters reporting at least five people were killed as people tried to forcibly enter planes leaving the country. Many were seen this morning trying to scale the walls and squeeze through barbed wires.

Three people allegedly held on to a wheel of a US plane flying out of Kabul and were seen falling to their death in one of the multiple videos showing insane attempts by Afghans to escape Taliban rule.

Anther Afghan national who left the country and reached India 10 days ago said the Taliban entered their homes and beat up the family members. "People still in the country are all very worried, and helpless... it's all because of the Taliban," he said while trying to wipe away his tears.

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