Afghan women have been abandoned – this is how you can help

The Handmaid’s Tale, the dystopian novel by Margaret Atwood, was referenced during the US presidential election as a dark symbol of how quickly rights can be stripped away. But for Afghan women, this isn’t a symbol. It is their existence.

For the past three years, women in Afghanistan have been banned from public life: schools, universities, work – even outdoor spaces. A generation of women who were once teachers, doctors, journalists and artists are now confined to the home. The full body veil has rendered them publicly invisible. In the latest edict from the Taliban, women have been ordered not to speak to each other. They are being simply erased from society.

According to UN Women, as of April 2023, about 80 per cent of school-aged girls – 2.5 million young women – were out of school, including 1.1 million secondary school-aged girls. More than 100,000 female university students were banned from education in December 2022. And about 80 per cent of suicide attempts are made by women, making it one of the few countries where female suicide rates surpass men’s.

We both know women in Afghanistan whose lives have been reduced to fading memories of freedom and women’s rights since the US-led intervention in 2001. Friends and colleagues who once laughed and dreamed just as we do tell us: “It feels like they are trying to erase us – as if our lives have disappeared, and no one notices.”

This sense of isolation, of being invisible, gnaws away at them. Afghan women have been forced back into the shadows, and their invisibility has crossed into the international sphere. It is as if the rest of the world has shrugged and looked away.

But individually, and through communities, women have noticed and do care. NGOs, charities, journalists, universities, women’s groups and book clubs would like to be allies. The thousands of messages we’ve both seen and received through social media asking how people can help Afghan women show us that there is fellow feeling – if not through governments, then through civilian populations.

That is why are launching the Friends of Afghan Women Network (FAWN), and the “Be #HerAlly” initiative, a place where people can stand shoulder to shoulder with Afghan women and show that they are not forgotten.

FAWN starts as a friendship network, a means for women in Afghanistan to converse with women outside the country. It is a way of breaking through the isolation and despair. We can all be part of it. Through FAWN, Afghan women will be paired one-on-one with someone who will offer support, mentorship, and, most importantly, companionship. For Afghan women, who are abandoned in almost every way imaginable, these friendships are way of saying: “You are not alone, and your life has value.”

The Taliban’s restrictions are in the public sphere. No one has yet created the means of controlling minds and private actions. Freedom is private and personal. Education is necessarily private and personal. Aspiration and economic advancement has to be private and personal. But friendship is shared. For the women of Afghanistan who believe they have no voice and no allies, we have to find a way of breaking through the walls of silence.

By creating connections across borders we’re not only providing direct support to Afghan women but also sending a message to governments. Afghan women will not be erased. They have a voice, and we will amplify it.

For those of us outside Afghanistan, this is an opportunity to act. We know how easy it is to feel powerless in the face of such extreme oppression. It’s tempting to turn away, to avoid confronting something so seemingly intractable. Nobody wants to be reminded of wars.

But FAWN offers a tangible way to help. Becoming a friend to an Afghan woman trapped under Taliban rule isn’t a grand gesture; it’s a simple act of solidarity. It’s the commitment to listen, to offer support, and to remind her that the world hasn’t forgotten.

We created FAWN not to be another advocacy group with big promises, but to provide something deeply personal, and – we hope – transformative. Through this network, which launches today, Wednesday, 13 November, we are showing Afghan women that they are still connected to the world and that their courage is seen and celebrated.

We invite you to be part of this mission.

Shabnam Nasimi worked as a senior policy advisor to the UK Minister for Refugees and Minister for Afghan Resettlement. She is a writer, commentator and a human rights advocate. Sarah Sands is a British journalist and author. She edited the London Evening Standard and Today on BBC Radio 4 from 2017 to 2020

Friendsofafghanwomennetwork.co.uk

This article was originally published by The i paper .