Questions: We Don't Have Answers

Who to Follow

Rukhshana Media
Sharing Women Voices through Women Reporting
Twitter: @Rukshana Media | Website

Sahar Speaks
Nurturing Afghan female reporters.
Twitter: @Sahar_Speaks | Website

Rangina Hamidi
“The Afghani Education Minister Rangina Hamidi is refusing to leave her office after the Taliban take over of Afghanistan and Kabul. She is going about her business in a usual manner despite the other top officials and dignitaries leaving the country.”
Twitter: @hamidi_rangina

Omar Haidari
Human Rights Activist
Instagram: omar.haidari

The Afghan
“My homeland is not your business venture.”
Instagram: theafghan

Middle East Matters
Youth Organization
Instagram: middleeastmatters

Petitions

Pres. Biden and Congress: Ensure Afghan women’s rights alongside peace with the Taliban
“My name is Nahid Fattahi and I know what’s it like to be marginalized and traumatized because of my gender. I am deeply worried that unless the global community comes together, the lives of so many women in Afghanistan will be at risk. And I’m here begging the world to join me in calling on the American government to #SafeguardAfghanWomenRights and #StandWithAfghanWomen.”

Create safe passages from Afghanistan!
There is nothing left to discuss. Afghanistan is not safe. Everyone who wants to leave the country must be able to do so. Therefore, we appeal to the German government and the European Union: create safe passages from Afghanistan!

Raise awareness of the mistreatment of Afghan refugees in Iran!
“Dozens of Afghan asylum seekers have been killed in Iran this year and yet no one has spoken about it. The only crime they did was having a different nationality. And today, once again, 14 Afghans have been burnt alive after Iranian police opened fire on their car they were travelling in. Not long ago, 45 Afghans were drowned after Iranian guards forced them into river. The Afghans workers were brought to the bank of the river, beaten and ordered to jump in the river to go back to Afghanistan. Those who could swim then jumped into the deep, fast-flowing water, while the others were beaten up and threatened with being shot before jumping or being pushed in. Of 57 workers who were forced into the river by Iranian security forces, only 12 managed to survive. They said they will investigate about the incident yet nothing has happened. Where is the justice?”

Funds

Women for Women International
“We work at the critical intersection of women and conflict providing skills, knowledge, and resources that create sustainable change for women, their families, and their communities. Afghanistan is currently one of the most difficult countries in the world in which to identify as a woman. Political and economic insecurity, educational inequality, sexual violence, and poor health are pervasive amongst Afghan women and children, but when equipped with powerful vocational and economic tools, women can change their lives, regardless of circumstance.”

UN Refugee Agency
“We work to ensure that everybody has the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge, having fled violence, persecution, war or disaster at home. As the fighting in Afghanistan spreads, thousands more families are fleeing for their lives. An estimated 550,780 people have now been displaced by conflict in Afghanistan so far this year, among whom approximately 60% are children.”

Women for Afghan Women
“We urgently appeal to all parties to respect the sanctity of life and all human rights. And, we call upon all our international partners to continue their support to the people of Afghanistan at this critical time. WAW is a majority Afghan and Muslim organization. But, today, we are ALL Afghans.”

Doctors Without Borders
“As violence surges across Afghanistan, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams are working to sustain urgent medical services. “The situation in the country has deteriorated to a point that in some cities, like Lashkar Gah and Kunduz, the medical facilities are on the front lines,” explains Laura Bourjolly, MSF humanitarian affairs manager in Afghanistan. “MSF staff continue to treat patients in all of our projects, under dire circumstances.””

Miles4Migrants
“Miles4Migrants uses donated frequent flyer miles, credit card points, and cash to help people impacted by war, persecution, or disaster reunite with loved ones and start new beginnings in safe homes.”

International Rescue Committee
“Today, the IRC has launched a $10 million appeal to raise much needed funds for the emergency response in Afghanistan to ensure our teams can continue to deliver lifesaving aid in areas of conflict, as well as to provide emergency cash assistance and protection services for internally displaced people in Kabul.”

Info

Who are the Taliban?
“The Taliban, or “students” in the Pashto language, emerged in the early 1990s in northern Pakistan following the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan. It is believed that the predominantly Pashtun movement first appeared in religious seminaries – mostly paid for by money from Saudi Arabia – which preached a hardline form of Sunni Islam. The promise made by the Taliban – in Pashtun areas straddling Pakistan and Afghanistan – was to restore peace and security and enforce their own austere version of Sharia, or Islamic law, once in power.”

Afghanistan: How Women’s Rights Are Under Serious Threat From the Taliban
“Women are still doing their best. You have seen from across Afghanistan, every woman is on the media. They are trying to talk about what’s happening to them, their communities.”

Interview: Why Now is the Time to Support Women’s Rights in Afghanistan (Aug. 5, 2021)
“…there was a girl at a shelter in Bamiyan who was only 17. She had been raped by a boy from a prominent family – he tricked her into meeting him – and then when she went to the police and filed a complaint against him, he bribed his way out of facing any charges. She, on the other hand, was prosecuted for having sex outside of marriage which is illegal in Afghanistan. It was so unfair. She had become pregnant and was giving up her baby for adoption. She was so sad, I remember her eyes when she said to me, “I don’t know if I should love my child or not.””