Raihana is a 24-year-old woman who served as a soldier in the Afghan National Army until the Taliban returned to power. Now, she hides in a remote province of Afghanistan. Before the fall of the previous government, she comfortably supported her family of nine, including her blind father, housewife mother, and younger siblings, with a monthly salary of 18,000 afghani.
Raihana joined the Police Academy in Balkh province in 2015 after graduating from high school. After two years of training, she joined the army as an officer, and worked there until August 15, 2021. Then, her life, along with those of thousands of other military women, completely changed.
After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, callers began ringing Raihana’s phone and threatening her with death. She was terrified and felt she had no choice but to change her phone number and move to another province. Three years later, she’s still hiding her identity and distancing herself from many of her friends and relatives. She cannot trust anyone.
“Not only me, but thousands of other military women like me are scared, hiding, and have cut off contact with many friends and family members,” Raihana tells Zan Times. Living such a secret life has caused her significant mental health issues, including severe anxiety, insomnia, and constant fear. Yet those psychological struggles are not her only problem – to her, the biggest issue is a lack of work.
Raihana explains that she and most women who worked in the military during the previous government cannot even apply for many jobs due to their military backgrounds and the fact that their biometric information was registered with the previous government and is now in the hands of the Taliban. To date, Raihana has not yet been able to find stable work and tries to support her large family by sewing and doing beadwork. But this work generates only around 3,000 afghani per month, which isn’t enough for Raihana to cover the living expenses of her family.
More than 6,600 women were employed in the previous government’s Ministry of Interior Affairs and the Ministry of National Defence, according to statistics published before August 2021. No one knows the current status of many of these women. To better understand their situation, Zan Times interviewed eight former female military personnel. Almost all of them complained about unemployment, economic hardship, psychological issues, and frustration at the lack of attention to their plight from the international community. Five of the eight women say they have been threatened or pursued by Taliban members at least once in the past three years. Such is the danger of moving around Afghanistan that only five of the eight have managed to escape to neighbouring countries.
The testimony of these women echo the findings of a new report by Human Rights Watch that was released today. In a 26-page report titled “Policewomen Report Past Abuse, Taliban Threats,” Human Rights Watch reveals that Taliban officials have threatened women who served as police officers in the previous government, putting their lives at risk. The report also focuses on how threats by the Taliban have forced many of these women to live in hiding. As well, Human Rights Watch highlights abuses against female military personnel, which occurred under the previous government, stating that hundreds of female police officers were subjected to sexual harassment and rape by their male colleagues and superiors, with no one held accountable for those crimes.
The report also mentions that many of these women have been forced to flee to neighbouring countries. However, their problems persist outside Afghanistan, as issues such as lack of legal residency, unemployment, and fear of forced deportation make their lives more difficult.
A former military officer named Qadria was able to migrate to Iran. In a phone interview with Zan Times, the 29-year-old says, “After security threats from the Taliban, I was forced to leave Afghanistan. I am not in a good situation now. Despite suffering from rheumatism and depression, I work day and night taking care of an elderly Iranian woman. I will send some of the remaining part of my eight-million toman (CAD$260) monthly salary to my family.”
Qadria fears being sent back to Afghanistan: “If I am ever deported to Afghanistan, I am certain a grim fate awaits me.”
In its report, Human Rights Watch called on countries that previously supported the recruitment of women in Afghanistan’s police and national army, including the United States, the United Kingdom, EU member states, and Japan, to urgently identify and support former military women who have been temporarily relocated to third countries.
However, Raihana and several women who spoke with Zan Times say they have no hope for support from the international community. They point out that governments have remained silent even while former military women have endured threats and violence under the Taliban. “I no longer have any hope from the international community. If they intended to help us, they should have done something in the past three years, but they have done nothing,” Raihana says.
Human Rights Watch also called on the Taliban to stop harassing former female military personnel. However, some experts argue that the Talibanwill never respond to such demands. H. Soltani, a military expert, tells Zan Times, “In the past three years, the Taliban have killed, imprisoned, or tortured thousands of former military personnel, and expecting them to support and protect women’s rights, does not align with the current realities.”
Raihana remains in Afghanistan, where she is forced to hide her identity and avoid leaving her home for fear of Taliban retaliation. A bright future for her and thousands of other military women seems unlikely.
Names have been changed to protect the identity of the interviewees and writers. Mahtab Safi and Sana Atef are the pseudonyms of Zan Times journalists in Afghanistan.
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