Witness 11 Audio Testimony

This situation exists throughout Afghanistan. I’m from Kunar, and the conditions are the same there. The situation is also similar in Nuristan and Nangarhar, where several girls committed suicide due to the actions of the Taliban.

If this trend continues, Afghanistan will quickly head towards misery. Women are an integral part of society. Women are the reason men exist; if there were no women, where would men come from? Women establish this society; without them, how would society have been built?

Education is extremely vital for women. To build Afghanistan, women must be granted permission for education. There’s a proverb that says, “Behind every successful man is a woman’s hand“. A woman rocks the cradle with one hand and the world with the other.

They fear that if women become educated, they will become leaders over them and take revenge for the oppression they’ve committed. They act this way because they’re afraid that an educated woman will recognize her rights, and then she will demand those rights. They want women to remain ignorant, which is why they have banned their education.

There are families without any men, forcing the woman to become both the man and woman of the household. She must work, and if she lacks an education, how can she find employment? She can’t simply take on manual labor or drive a handcart. With the blessing of education, a woman can do anything.

A very bleak future awaits, and if women aren’t allowed to pursue education, the country will face very dire consequences.

If they hadn’t stopped my work, I was a prosecutor then and would have made significant progress by now. I would be a director now, but unfortunately, since they banned us from working, I’ve forgotten what I learned. A person progresses in a work environment. I would have earned my Master’s and Doctorate degrees and significantly advanced myself. Now, my situation is terrible; I can’t even properly raise my own children, or I’ve forgotten things. When I remember what I was and what I’ve become, I weep heavily and ask why this happened to us and what sin we committed.

If a mother isn’t educated, how will she raise her children? This paves the way for violence and misery. An educated woman can distinguish between good and bad, and she knows what is lawful and unlawful. If a mother raises and educates her child well, that child will also benefit society. However, if her child remains uneducated, how will they manage a home, a province, or a country? This will lead to very bad consequences.

I ask the international community and the court to exert pressure on the Taliban, without using force or war, to grant women the right to work and education. Whether by force or consent, they must allow women’s education.

We are mothers of daughters and sisters of sisters, and it pains us that our children don’t have access to education and that our daughters remain uneducated. In the previous government, women should have been granted the right to work, education, travel, and civil liberty. There are families with no men, and the woman absolutely needs to go out to work; where will she find a male guardian (mahram)?

Women’s education is extremely important. If we achieve this, we can achieve everything. For me, women’s education means everything.

There is a Hadith Sharif (noble saying of the Prophet) that states knowledge is obligatory (Fard) upon both women and men. The Hadith doesn’t say education is mandatory for men but not for women; it clearly states it’s mandatory for both. The Holy Quran mentions women’s names and reminds us of women.

Islam has given women more rights than men. Islam didn’t forbid women from going out. Islam only instructed them to observe the hijab, and then they can do anything. Islam also granted women the right to inheritance, so why don’t men give it to them? Islam explicitly gave women the right to education and work. If you study Surat An-Nisa (Chapter of Women), everything becomes clear