The recent decisions of the Taliban are shocking and dishonest, which could lead Afghanistan to chaos. I fear that the U.S., United Nations, and international community have already predicted the plight of the Afghan people. This devastating situation reached its peak when the national unity government was established in Afghanistan in 2014. Over time, corruption in the government, unemployment, and the Covid–19 pandemic have taken away everything people had, causing them to become overwhelmed with anxiety and mentally preparing them to accept the Taliban. During the war between the Taliban and ex–military forces, Afghans were horrified by the Taliban‘s atrocities that they saw on social media. However, the Taliban devised a short–term strategy of being kind to the public in order to convince them to accept a bad situation rather than a worse one.
The Taliban shocked us for the second time with their ban on girls‘ higher education and violation of women‘s rights. The public‘s reactions on social media seem to be misleading, as the Taliban are only trying to impose hijab on women and girls, which would add to their rule and international donors. The Taliban did not anticipate the resistance from women all over Afghanistan, which included boys giving up taking their final exams and men resigning from their positions as university lecturers. Later, Afghan women‘s protests against the Taliban‘s anti–education order sent a message to the world, and even the Taliban on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan joined Afghan girls in showing their disapproval of the Taliban‘s orders.
If people continue to oppose the Taliban‘s attempts to impose their beliefs on them, their plan could fail. The Taliban are aware that they cannot stop Afghans from supporting girls‘ education, so they are trying to restrict women‘s freedom in Afghanistan. They are afraid that if women are educated, they will not be able to turn them into Taliban supporters.
Educated Afghan youths should work to dismantle the Taliban‘s emirate by disobeying their rules and regulations every day. This will give us the opportunity to reclaim our country from the Taliban eventually. Afghans who are inclined to comply with the Taliban‘s oppressive orders should abandon their conservative mindset and join the protesting Afghan girls, women, and boys to make Afghanistan a better place to live. It is up to all Afghans to demonstrate their resistance to the Taliban by dancing, playing music, performing theatre, and showing solidarity with protesting Afghan women on the roads throughout Afghanistan.
