Lida Khurami was part of a generation that grew up after the first Taliban government fell in 2001 and benefited from billions in aid aimed specifically at women and girls.
The sole breadwinner of a family of eight, Khurami was a radio and television journalist and wanted to get a master’s degree in international relations. When the Taliban overthrew the U.S.-allied government of President Ashraf Ghani, like millions of women she was stripped of her rights.
The regime has imposed the “most comprehensive, systematic, and unparalleled assault on the rights of women and girls,” the U.N. women’s agency said in a statement Tuesday.are temporary, allegedly because women were not wearing the Islamic headscarf, or hijab. Nevertheless, the economy is in shambles and the regime has drawn near universal condemnation, even by its neighbors like Iran, threatening the much-needed humanitarian aid.
Khurami says she faced obstacles even before the fall of the government in Kabul, with family members pressuring her and her sisters to abandon their education and career plans and get married. Her work drew anger from some, who called her an “infidel” just for choosing to become a journalist -- viewed as a dangerously permissive profession that allows gender mixing, which is frowned on by many in the ultra-conservative society.
Before they took Kabul in August 2021, the Taliban had worked their way across a country worn down by an ineffective and corrupt central government. They captured cities and regions eager for peace at any cost and intimidated by the fighters’ brutality. As they progressed, the Taliban dropped hints that they had moderated their approach toward women.
Eventually, the Taliban came to her own family’s front door: Her father was arrested and beaten, she says.
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