Link to Canva Collage [Press play to start the video (As the Taliban) when ready]

What is the treatment of women under the Taliban? While this seems like a rather simple

question with a rather simple answer – abusive – it led me down a path of eye-opening readings

that gave me a more personal insight into the social injustices under Taliban control. I was

searching for a starting point in the archives when I noticed some work from Amnesty

International. I had heard of Amnesty International before, so I decided to take a look at

AFGHANISTAN: The legacy of human suffering in a forgotten war. I had mixed feelings during

the evacuation of Kabul and America’s choice to leave Afghanistan, so I felt that it would be an

interesting topic to look at. But rather than focusing on the event or the military aspects of it, I

was more interested in a side to everything that I had never delved into before: how would the

Taliban takeover impact women’s rights? Trying to use the class archives proved somewhat

difficult at first, but I was able to use it as a launchpad to get full texts and information from

EBSCOhost, which I had used in the past for research. After the two articles, I wanted to get

different modalities for my collage, thus I started looking for images and videos, however, I

struggled more with finding images and videos than I did with getting good articles. This is

likely a result of my inexperience with using the archives, but with some searching, I was able to

locate some more additions to my collage. The picture I decided on was of Malala, a Nobel Prize

winner and a champion for women and girls’ rights in Pakistan. As soon as I saw her and read

the caption, I remembered reading about her several years ago, and I decided immediately that

her photo would be part of the collage. Then as I was looking for the last item to add, I found a

video about a woman who escaped Kabul but was unable to get her children out. Depending on

how the information is presented and in what form it is presented in, it can elicit a different

reaction and create a different feeling towards the situation. For example, reading the article from
Amnesty International about the overall situation was far less impactful than the video of the

woman describing her worry for her children in Afghanistan, but it also had a lot of good

information. From what I’ve gathered thus far, articles and other written works are great at

giving a lot of info, but more personal modalities such as videos are better at making a deeper

connection.

(Fig. 1) A woman in a burqa begging on the streets of

Kabul

The collage consists of four items, all of

which describe the suffering of women under Talib rule. The first item is the collection by

Amnesty International, more specifically, the latter part, from 1995 onwards, in which the

Taliban rose to power and took control of the lives of women. The article outlines some of the

restrictions the Taliban had placed upon the Afghani women, for example, women had to be

covered from head to toe and could be publicly beaten if their outfit was considered improper,

something as minor as wearing the wrong color shoes. The Taliban also banned girls from

attending school and prohibited women from working (at least in some capacity). (Afghanistan)
 (Fig. 2) A photo of
Malala Yousafzai

The Pakistani Taliban similarly sought to stop girls from attending

school, which led to the actions of Malala Yousafzai, a young girl who was barred from school

by the Taliban and went to tell the world about it. She ended up earning a Nobel Prize for her

bravery and activism, but her actions also led to a failed assassination attempt by the Taliban in

which she was shot in the neck and head. (”15-Yr-Old) As the Pakistani Taliban fought social

change, the Taliban in Afghanistan fought against the Afghan military and the foreign troops in

the country. This fighting would ultimately lead to the fall of the Afghan government in 2021, as

the United States pulled out of Afghanistan; the second article I found was about a young

woman's struggle during the evacuation of Kabul, as the U.S. was leaving, and countless Afghan

civilians were also trying to get out. This article was the one I found most interesting and was

what really compelled me to continue with my inquiry despite a few setbacks. She is a female

journalist who feared for her safety as the Taliban closed in on Kabul, she describes her fear as a

result of the Taliban’s oppression of women and their hostility toward journalists, which caused

her to worry about her and her sister’s safety. The article details her experience going to and

from the airport several times while trying to get onto a plane out of the country. She also

describes how the Taliban were obstructing her path to the airport and trying to force women to

travel with male partners. Despite the Taliban presence, she and her sister were successful in
getting out of the country on a C-130 cargo plane, but sadly she had to leave

other family behind. (Seddique) The last object I put in my collage is quite reminiscent of that

article but was much sadder. It is a video of a mother whose children were kidnapped by a

relative and were unable to leave with her as she escaped the country during the same

evacuation, and she is now terrified for her children, especially her oldest daughter, whom she

fears will be taken by the Taliban, who have kidnapped young girls and forced them to marry

soldiers. (As the Taliban)

I feel that it’s hard to describe the impact of these stories, particularly the second article

and the video. It is painful to read that a young woman feels betrayed by the United States after

they abandoned the people of Afghanistan, as she puts it. And it fills me with both sadness and

anger hearing about the people left behind in the war-torn country where women must live in

constant fear and oppression. Now I have two more questions: how has life changed for women

in Afghanistan since the 2021 Taliban takeover, and what can the rest of the world do to help?
 Works Cited

"15-Yr-Old Peace Award Winner Injured in Gun Attack on School Van in Pakistan." Asian
News International, Oct 09, 2012. ProQuest, http://proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/login?
url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/15-yr-old-peace-award-winner-injured-gun-
attack/docview/1095406020/se-2.
Afghanistan: The Legacy of Human Suffering in a Forgotten War: 1995 Onwards. Amnesty
International, New York, NY, 1999. Alexander Street,
https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cdocument
%7C1524818. (Fig. 1)
As the Taliban Tightens its Grip, an Afghan Mother Fears for Her Children. Anonymous WP
Company LLC d/b/a The Washington Post, 2021. (Fig 4)
Seddique, Bushra. “My Escape From the Taliban.” Atlantic, vol. 330, no. 2, Sept. 2022, pp. 20–
28. EBSCOhost, https://search-ebscohost-com.proxy.lib.ohio-state.edu/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=aph&AN=158440077&site=ehost-live. (Fig. 3)

© Zuma Press-MCT (Fig. 2)