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Features

Ruined Dreams: An Interview with a Female Afghan University Student

November 11, 2021
Bagher Ebrahimi
4 min read
Sima Saghar in the classroom before Kabul was captured by the Taliban
Sima Saghar in the classroom before Kabul was captured by the Taliban
Sima Saghar and her classmates at Kabul University before the occupation of Kabul by the Taliban
Sima Saghar and her classmates at Kabul University before the occupation of Kabul by the Taliban
Sima Saghar and her classmates at Kabul University before the occupation of Kabul by the Taliban
Sima Saghar and her classmates at Kabul University before the occupation of Kabul by the Taliban
Sima Saghar and her classmates at Kabul University before the occupation of Kabul by the Taliban
Sima Saghar and her classmates at Kabul University before the occupation of Kabul by the Taliban
Sima Saghar and her classmates at Kabul University before the occupation of Kabul by the Taliban
Sima Saghar and her classmates at Kabul University before the occupation of Kabul by the Taliban
Sima Saghar at Kabul Technical University
Sima Saghar at Kabul Technical University

Three months after the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, universities are still closed to women. No one hears their appeals to be readmitted to their studies, and officials have not explained their decisions. Afghan civil society groups have meanwhile taken to the streets and are holding consultations to try to convince the Taliban that women's education is a right and that the new government should reopen universities to women.

Sima Saghar is an Afghan woman who overcame the opposition of her family to begin studying –but now it seems her dreams have been destroyed. She was a second-year computing student at Kabul Polytechnic State University who had been trying to enter university for years. She survived a school suicide bombing as well as the initial opposition of her family before the Taliban swept back into power.

It was on August 15, 2018 that one of the classrooms of the Moud training center in Dasht Barchi Square in the west of Kabul was targeted by a terrorist attack. Sima was at school, preparing for the university entrance exam; while she survived, more than 50 of her classmates were killed and dozens were injured.

Following this incident, Sima's family opposed her continuing her studies, so that she would not be killed in these attacks. In an interview with IranWire, she recounts how and under what circumstances she studied: "My family prevented me from studying, but I insisted that I should go to university. I attended classes in the cold, with no electricity, so that I could achieve my dream. I was finally accepted to the Polytechnic University."

Sima and her other classmates studied for two years, full of enthusiasm and dreams for the future, when they were brought to an abrupt end. "My stress is unbearable ... Suddenly, all my dreams were dashed. My whole body hurts every day and I can't leave the house."

Sima decided to attend street demonstrations to make her voice heard. "Our protests have so far been fruitless. The voices of Afghan women and girls are still not heard, and the Taliban are obstructing our civil protests, regardless of our demands."

She says some of her classmates left Afghanistan in the first days of the Taliban's arrival in Kabul and sought refuge in other countries, but some are still in Kabul. Most of those who remain are still trying to flee.

"I was in my second year of university, studying and living in a dormitory,” Sima said. “I hoped to be able to serve the community and the people of my country in the future. But overnight we went backward by 20 years and had to stay home again. We do not deserve to be stuck at home. But women have no place in the Taliban regime. They have taken our basic rights from us. Our hopes for the future have been dashed."

The Taliban have repeatedly claimed that women can be educated according to Sharia law. But these promises remain unfulfilled – indeed more restrictions are being imposed on women.

Abdol Baghi Haqqani, the acting head of the Taliban's Ministry of Higher Education, announced on September 21 that a gender segregation plan would be implemented in Afghan public universities so that girls and boys could study separately. But this has not yet been achieved. While universities were supposed to start with new Taliban policies, in practice, the women have been barred from studying.

It seems difficult for various elements within the Taliban to reach agreement on these issues. They make promises that they cannot fulfil while trying to deceive Western governments so that the regime may be officially recognized.

During the first period of their rule, from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban deprived women and girls of all their rights and treated them with the utmost violence. Women did not have the right to study, work or even travel without their male guardian. Going back to that time frightens many in the country – and while the future is uncertain it seems clear that it will be worse for the women of Afghanistan.

Related coverage:

"No Girl Should Feel Like Me": Young Afghan Women Locked Out of Education

Protesting Women of Herat and Kabul: We Will Never Submit to the Taliban

Afghan Ex-Servicewomen in Hiding After Female Police Officer's Murder

Prominent Afghan Journalist Assassinated

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