Nilo Bayat, captain of Afghanistan’s women’s Paralympic basketball team, speaks with a cheerful tone on the other end of the line. From Bilbao, where he arrived after fleeing Afghanistan a year ago, his voice blends the optimism of a new life in Spain with the sorrow of those left behind. Kabul’s panorama reaches him in a whisper: the future feels dark, he says, a sentence that lingers.
It seems as if twenty years collapsed in a single moment. For Afghan society at large and for women in particular, the last two decades saw real progress. Women joined the labor market, the judiciary, politics, universities and schools. They could move freely without the constant accompaniment of a male family member, dress as they wished, shop, listen to music, drive, and travel. Education became a right girls could claim with confidence.
Then, a year ago, with the Taliban back in power in August 2021, a door to the past that seemed sealed was pried open. Afghanistan has endured two distinct periods under extremist rule. The first spanned from 1986 to 2001; the second began last summer and continues today. Those who lived through the earlier era will not forget it. Islamic law and sharia dictated stark penalties: public executions, stonings, floggings, and brutal punishments for men wearing Western clothes or for women who did not wear the compulsory burqa. The woman, in the extreme, existed only behind the door of the home. During that time, Bayat herself survived a bombing that killed her brother and left her maimed for life. She had been set to marry last September, but fled the country instead, driven by the danger she faced after taking a steadfast stand for women’s rights.
“An Open Prison”
Afghanistan now feels like a prison for women that is open but still confining. The image is echoed by exiled Afghan politician and activist Fawzia Koofi, who says the country is like a cemetery where people breathe. Koofi, who faced death threats from her own family for being a girl instead of the long-awaited son, has become a voice for women’s rights in the battered nation. She notes that girls were barred from education starting at age 12, an order with lasting consequences that keep them bound to home life.
Bayat admits she never expected exile would become part of her life. Physically in Europe, she feels mentally tied to Afghanistan. Koofi participated in talks with the Taliban during the early days of the current government, but she left because she could not accept the regime’s brutal orders. She urges the West to do more to condemn and isolate the fundamentalist regime.
Moderation Pose
The new extremist party that returned to power a year ago sought to present itself to the world as more moderate than its predecessors. Olatz Cacho, spokesperson for Amnesty International in Afghanistan, confirms this was a pose. The expert explains that Islamic law continues to govern most aspects of life, and that the presence of women in business is now largely limited to select sectors such as health and education. From night to morning, many public workers were told to stay at home.
The Amnesty International expert emphasizes that this retreat came while education for girls had its greatest moment, with millions of girls in the country attending classes. It is described as a desert where some water had briefly fallen. The consequences of the interruption in education will shape future generations, the expert notes, adding that the disruption marks a profound setback for Afghan youth and the social fabric at large. The path ahead remains fraught with risk as authorities recalibrate the balance between control and opportunity in a country struggling to rebuild after decades of conflict. (Cited by Amnesty International)