Women have taken to the streets against the Taliban with the power given to them by the women of Rojava (North and East Syria), said Mariam Rawi of the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan: “Women are playing a historical role in the future of Afghanistan right now.” said in an interview with Mezopotamya News Agency.
“With women’s resistance, we can defeat our enemies not only in Rojava but also in Afghanistan,” she said. “The emotional and political bond between the women’s resistance in these two countries is huge, and I hope we can create more networks by sharing our experiences and collaborating. This will be a breakthrough for us as well as for our sisters in Rojava”.
She noted that women’s resistance and women’s movements motivate women all over the world: “In this sense, we have a very special relationship with women, especially Kurdish women, who resist the Erdoğan regime in Turkey.”
Rawi said that Afghan women have goals in common with Kurdish women: they all dream of women’s equality, social justice, a democratic and secular system, and a peaceful world. These dreams bring women closer, she added. “All fascist and imperialist countries and governments have their own common interests, so why don’t we unite too?”
“Afghan women are now strong and educated enough to resist the Taliban,” she said, as she talked about the underground schools they have established for women and girls, which she said were originally established the last time the Taliban came to power, 20 years ago. “So when the Taliban took over Kabul on 15 August 2021, we re-established these schools all over the country within a week.”
Taliban regime
It has been one year since the Taliban took over Afghanistan again. In this year of resistance and struggle, many women have been kidnapped, enslaved and tortured by Taliban gangs. Women and girls were stripped of all their basic rights. But women, who did not recognise the Taliban administration, have turned the streets into areas of resistance.
The Taliban were in power in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, in which time they carried out many massacres in the country.
In 2001, the United States launched an operation in Afghanistan due to the Taliban regime’s support for the radical Islamist group, Al-Qaeda, which had caused the deaths of thousands of US citizens in their attack on the twin towers in New York on 11 September 2001.
The US had troops in Afghanistan from 2001 until August 2021, when it withdrew, and on 15 August 2021, the Taliban captured the capital Kabul and took back power.
