A letter that is intended to be the voice of all Afghan girls, girls who have to endure an imposed and cruel silence.

This week marks three years since the Taliban seized control of the government in Afghanistan. Dr. Sima Samar – former Vice President and Minister of Women’s Affairs of Afghanistan and long-time friend of the Feminist Majority Foundation and MS.— has published this letter from Suraya Mohammadi, a girl from Afghanistan. In it, Mohammadi pleads with the world to take note of life under the Taliban regime, where women and girls have become victims of institutionalized oppression. The international community cannot look away.

My dear friend,

I write this letter to you, and through you to your friends, to world leaders, to the United Nations, to human rights organizations, to women’s rights organizations, to women and girls around the world.

My name is Suraya Mohammadi, I am a girl living in the heart of Afghanistan, a country under Taliban rule. I am writing this letter with a heart full of pain and hope. It should be the voice of all Afghan girls, girls who have to endure an imposed and cruel silence.

To the world leaders, to the women and girls everywhere: I ask you to be our voice. Don’t forget us, don’t leave us alone.

Since the day the Taliban came back to power, my life and the lives of thousands of other girls have become a nightmare. We cannot go to school and continue our education, we cannot work and we have no better future. Every day I look out of the small window of my house and wish I could go back to school, open my books again and dream of becoming a doctor, engineer or lawyer. But unfortunately, these dreams have now become a nightmare that we experience in our waking hours.

Being a girl in Afghanistan means living in the shadow of fear and injustice. We are ignored, our human values ​​are trampled upon and no one listens to us. When they tell us we have no right to an education, they are basically telling us we are worthless. When they force us into arranged marriages, they are basically telling us our opinions and feelings do not matter. With each passing day, we are further deprived of our human rights and no one comes to our aid.

Have you ever wondered how it feels when someone tells you you have no rights? How it feels when you see your friends in other countries freely going to school, working and building a better future for themselves, while you are trapped in an invisible prison? We Afghan girls struggle with these feelings every day. Every day we face the harsh reality that our lives have no value and no one cares about us.

I wake up every day filled with fear and terror. Is today the day they force me to marry? Is today the last time I will set foot in our house? These unanswered questions bring me to the brink of despair every day. But in the midst of this darkness, there is still a glimmer of hope. Hope that maybe one day this nightmare will end and we can live again, laugh again, learn again and build a bright future again.

I am not just a girl. I represent thousands of girls living in this wounded country. Girls who have been denied all human rights just because they are female. We have no right to vote, no right to decide about our lives. Even the right to choose our life partner has been taken away from us. We are forced into arranged marriages without even being asked for our opinion.

Every day I wake up, I am faced with a suffocating feeling and overwhelming pressure. With each passing day, I feel like a part of my soul and being is being destroyed. All my dreams are gradually crumbling and giving way to a harsh and bitter reality. The future that I once looked to with hope now seems like a distant and unattainable shadow.

We Afghan girls are denied education, deprived of our human rights and unable to live with dignity and respect. Every day we wake up to the harsh reality that we are ignored and our human worth is disregarded. Every moment of our day is filled with fear and anxiety, fear of an uncertain future and fear that we may never escape this cruel prison.

To world leaders, to women and girls around the world: I ask you to be our voice. Don’t forget us, don’t leave us alone. Hear our pain and suffering and fight for us. We need your support, we need you to make our voices heard around the world. We too have the right to live, to be educated, to work and to vote. We too are human beings and our human rights must be respected.

We hope for the day when we can live freely again, study, work and pursue our dreams.

With respect and shed tears,

Suraya Mohammadi
A girl from Afghanistan

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