‘The world is deaf' — the life of Afghanistan's forgotten women
My second: We have to fight.
In the first objective, I was fortunate. My family and I were able to flee Afghanistan to Poland. But for the millions of my fellow Afghani citizens who were not so lucky, their lives are now a nightmare.
Women and girls in particular are living a special form of hell. After two decades of unprecedented progress and opportunity, they risk public punishment — beatings or worse — for showing their hair or walking alone. It doesn't matter if a woman was previously a judge, journalist, a doctor or a professor. Today, she is barred from holding nearly all jobs, attending parks and gyms and even beauty salons. Young girls cannot attend school beyond sixth grade, leaving 1.4 million unable to learn.
The stories I have heard from the women surviving in this dystopian universe, trickled through whispers and covert messaging apps, have shaken me to my core. A young woman was abducted, raped and tortured for refusing to give up her job at a hospital — then warned not to speak to any international media about what she had endured. Another was nearly stoned to death for seeking a divorce from an abusive marriage. A former female police officer was beaten in Taliban custody.
For every story I hear, I know there are hundreds of others that are not getting out. Between January 2022 and June 2024, Afghan Witness documented 840 incidents of gender-based violence against women and girls in Afghanistan, including 332 killings, based on open-source information.
The Taliban has of course, abolished the legal framework and institutions dedicated to protecting women — like the Ministry of Women's Affairs, family courts, and prosecution units for gender-based violence, so that victims are left without protection, perpetrators act with near-impunity, perpetuating the cycle.
I am confident this situation would engender global outrage if it were happening in Europe or the U.S. But the international response has been limited to symbolic statements, weak sanctions, and grossly underfunded aid. The U.S and European Union sanctions against the Taliban don't mean much when countries that host and support them remain untouched.
With the world's attention turned elsewhere, Afghan women are trying to force change unilaterally at great personal risk. They run underground schools, whispering lessons in secret. They organize protests and try to relay their dire straits to the outside world. 'We are not silent,' one woman told me. 'The world is deaf.'
Their courage deserves to be rewarded with solidarity and acknowledgement, but most importantly action to force real change. This can include funding the fight for women's rights. Grassroots projects like the Afghan Women's Network run underground schools on shoestring budgets.
There should also be sanctions against national governments that enable the Taliban, such as Pakistan and Qatar. Ban them from global forums like the G20 and impose real trade restrictions until they take responsibility.
We must elevate Afghan women's voices, amplifying their strategies and solutions, not just their suffering. Programs like the Women's Peace and Humanitarian Fund help women lead change in their own communities and deserve far greater support.
We have seen some progress in the international arena. On July 8, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Supreme Leader Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani for crimes against humanity, including gender- and political-based persecution from August 2021 to January 2025. And Groups like the World Liberty Congress, the world's largest global alliance of dissidents, human rights defenders, and pro-democracy leaders, are working diligently to implement these objectives.
But we need more support. The world must not look away. This fight is not just about Afghanistan — it's about defending dignity and freedom everywhere.
If we fail to act now, history will remember our silence as complicity.
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