This week Begüm Başdaş talked with two Afghan women, Rada Akbar and Sediqa Fahimi, who recently had to leave Afghanistan after Taliban took over the control of Kabul.
Currently, Sediqa Fehimi is in the United States at a military base after she and her sister were evacuated from the Kabul airport in August. Rada Akbar is an internationally renown visual artist and women’s rights activist. Rada Akbar was evacuated by the support of the French Embassy in Kabul and arrived in Paris on August 19.
Both Rada Akbar and Sediqa Fahimi shared their stories about what happened in their lives immediately after Taliban entered in Kabul and how they had to leave their homes in a matter of few hours. Both women also commented on their current living conditions in the US and France. Rada Akbar, who had no choice other than applying for asylum to be in the system in France after she arrived, said “No one was ready for this. Not us or the French people. It was a shock for everyone.” Fahimi and Akbar also talked about the women’s protests in the streets of Kabul and across the country. Sediqa Fahimi said that the women everywhere in all provinces of Afghanistan are protesting and want their basic rights like education and work. Rada Akbar said “They are risking their lives only to save their voices.” Sediqa Fahimi also commented that many of the local journalists tortured in Afghanistan are from Hazara ethnicity. She said, Taliban “do not recognise Hazara as people” and added “that genocide might happen in all different provinces” against Hazara.
You may visit Rada Akbar’s website https://abarzanan.com to learn more about her recent art work “Abarzanan / Superwomen.”
