When the Taliban came to power, they had to leave their country, home and job.
Wahida Amiri was an ordinary librarian when the Taliban took power again in August last year, taking over Kabul. But when the Taliban began to deprive women of their vested rights one by one, they became one of the leading figures in the resistance against them. Amiri told BBC’s Sodaba Haidare how he was detained and why he decided to leave his country when he was released:
The painful brakes of the cars coming in front of the house were heard. I couldn’t count the vehicles and soldiers. it was as if they had come to arrest not a few women but the whole village. “Have you found Wahida Amiri?” I heard a voice. “I said okay. It’s over. They’re going to kill me.”
Wahida was a librarian before the Taliban came to power.
Before August 15, 2021, I was an ordinary woman. I was 33 years old, studied law and was managing a library in the heart of Kabul.
The library was my happiest place. Sometimes we would discuss topics like feminism while drinking our cardamom tea. Afghanistan wasn’t perfect, but we were free.
I loved books because I didn’t learn to read until I was 20.
When I started school in 1996, the Taliban established their first dominance in Afghanistan. One of his first acts was to ban girls from going to school.
All of our relatives fled to the Panjshir valley, and we migrated to Pakistan.
Meet Virginia Woolf
All the responsibilities and chores of the house were left to me. I was cooking, cleaning, scrubbing the floors all day. I thought my life was going to be like this.
Then September 11, 2001 happened. I watched the twin towers collapse on TV. We later saw how much this event would change the lives of ordinary Afghans like us. Before long, the Taliban were defeated and we left Pakistan and returned to our country.
I was 15 when we settled in Kabul and life had changed a lot. When the Taliban left, girls went to school and women went to work. But that was not the case for me. My housework and service was considered more important than my education. I was able to enroll in school after 5 years.
Finally, a miracle happened and I was accepted into law school. I was still a shy girl, until a woman named Virginia Woolf and her manifesto “A Room of One’s Own” came into my life. It was like I was reborn. As I read, I became conscious of my strength as a woman.
One of the protest demonstrations organized by Wahida (right) in Kabul
Kabul’s fall
One hot August day, the nightmare I once had returned, and the Taliban entered Kabul with their black and white flags.
I’ve found women who have the same fears as me. We knew the dangers of opposing the Taliban, but we still said, “We must protest.” We formed a group called Afghanistan’s Fighting Women’s Movement.
The Taliban immediately began to show their true face. They backed away from their promises that they would allow women to return to work and school, and announced a cabinet without a single woman.
We started taking walks in the streets. The Taliban were pinching us, spraying us with tear gas, shooting into the air, and even beating some women. Then they banned the protests altogether. We decided not to continue because it was too dangerous now.
Detention
One day in February 2022, the house where I was hiding with other women was raided by the Taliban. We were taken to the Ministry of Interior by trucks and held there for 19 days.
On the second day of our detention, a Taliban entered the room where we were held and handed me a pen and paper and said, “You are a spy. You will write the names of all your collaborators here.”
The women were left one by one, but it was not my turn. They said that one day they would come with a camera and ask questions to the few remaining women.
When we asked why we were registered, they said it was a formality and would be put in the archive of the ministry.
We were going to say our names first. Then they forced us to say that we received orders from abroad for the protests. We soon saw on the television in the hallway that they were broadcasting these recordings in the media.
We were all in tears. Now everyone knew that we were detained. And they thought we were protesting just to help us get out of the country. We were released two days after registration.
Wahida goes to Afghan restaurant from time to time to satisfy the craving.
exile again
I had lost everything. People were reproaching me for doing such things on a woman’s behalf. I had lost my job, my freedom.
One day I read an anonymous interview with another female protester. She said that the Taliban beat us while we were in custody. However, they were not beaten. After this interview, my family asked me to flee, fearing that the Taliban would angrily attempt re-arrests.
It’s been two months since I left. I packed a few clothes and my favorite books like “A Room of One’s Own” in a small suitcase and said goodbye to my homeland.
Wahida is writing a book about women advocating for their rights
A new life
I live in Pakistan with several families. It’s like I’m trapped in a bad dream that I can’t escape. I miss my home, my family, my cat.
The only thing that cheers me up once in a while is going to a nearby Afghan restaurant.
I spend a lot of time in a nearby library and try to write something about women who resist. Our lives and how that has changed with the Taliban.
I hope to one day turn them into a book.
I want all women in the world to know that Afghan women do not surrender, they struggle, that when silenced they stand up again and continue to resist in other ways.
Photos: Munazza Anwaar and Musa Yawari