Dixya Poudel

Kabul fell into the hands of Taliban as twenty years of Western mission came to an end in Afghanistan. While president Ashraf Ghani fled, Afghanistan went once again to the dark ages. Consequently, thousands of Afghans have been crowding in the capitol's airport to escape the nation which is gripped in fear. According to the United Nations (UN), more than half a million Afghans have been internally displaced throughout the current year. And as the Taliban have seized Afghanistan, its citizens are either fleeing in desperation or bracing themselves for the hardships to come.

Afghans are going through tumultuous times as their prospects now seem to be quite restricted. Especially the girls and women in the nation know they are looking at a grim future. In The Guardian, an anonymous Afghan student wrote, "As a woman, I feel like I am the victim of this political war that men started. I felt like I can no longer laugh out loud, I can no longer listen to my favourite songs, I can no longer meet my friends in our favourite cafe, I can no longer wear my favourite yellow dress or pink lipstick. And I can no longer go to my job or finish the university degree that I worked for years to achieve."

It is just one of the many voices of Afghan women who are fearful of the Taliban as they are terrified that their rights will be nullified henceforth. And once the women realised that the Taliban will be taking over, they rushed to dig out their discarded burqas or go to stores to buy them. It shows the grim side of the Taliban and how frightened women are for their future.

After twenty years of mission, the US and NATO allies have withdrawn from Afghanistan. It has only strengthened the Taliban who are known for its narrow and regressive policies especially towards girls and women. In its history of atrocities, the Taliban forbade the education of girls and women who were instead relegated to their household. They were confined within the repressive veil of burqas and regulations that were suppressive.

As such, the Taliban has recently said that it will ensure women's rights but how much of it will be implemented? Despite these proclaims of support, Afghans remain sceptical as the Taliban have had a 'retrogressive' history of oppression against women. For those who take democracy for granted or with little importance, this turn in Afghanistan should be a wake-up call. No longer can one undermine the importance of democracy in which all voices are heard equally. While girls throughout the rest of the world can carry their backpacks full of textbooks and stationery to their schools, the girls in Afghanistan might no longer be able to attend schools.

It could be a severe blow to the progress that Afghanistan has made over the past twenty years. And as the world watches helplessly, millions of Afghan girls and women are likely to be denounced of their rights. In a democratic nation, citizens have equal rights which include basic rights to survival as well as the rights to education, freedom and expression. Now that Afghanistan has lost its democratic government, the rest of the world is left anxious over the turbulent future of the Afghans.