Women defy fear in Kandahar and go out to work and study

The streets of Kandahar, the stronghold of the Taliban in Afghanistan, have become almost empty of women since the movement took control of the country in mid-August, but Frishta, Fawzia and others defy fear to continue working or studying.

The same fear prevails over Ferishta, 23, and Zahra, 24, as they fear that they will encounter a Taliban member in the street and that they will be pelted with acid to discourage them from going out to study.

Since returning to power in mid-August, the Taliban in Kandahar have not attacked women who go out to study or work in Kandahar, according to identical testimonies.

The last acid attack on schoolgirls and students in the city dates back more than twelve years.

But memories of the harsh 1990s, when the movement prohibited women from working, studying, or going out alone or without the burqa, are still fresh, and its effect is enough to discourage women from taking to the commercial streets.

Several women in burqas can be seen speeding between two stores, carrying shopping bags.

"Before, we used to feel happy when we came to work, but we are tense today," Fereshta Nazari, principal of the Sofi Sahib Girls' School in Kandahar, told AFP.

"On the street, the Taliban don't speak to us, but they look at us as fragments," she said.

In the school she runs, "most parents no longer send their daughters to school after the age of ten" because they "no longer feel safe in this community."

She reported that 700 girls attend school currently, compared to 2500 normally.

“Except for the shopping, which we do quickly, we don't go anywhere anymore," says Fawzia, a 20-year-old medical student who preferred to use a pseudonym for security reasons.

And we quickly go home,” while the men spend their time chatting for hours, on the sidewalk or in restaurants or hookah cafés.

Zahra, a math student who also uses a pseudonym, decided not to go to college, like many of her friends, after anonymous rumors circulated about possible acid attacks, preferring not to take the risk.

"For me, life is more important than anything else," she says.

But some women have no choice, like Fereshte and her fellow teachers, who have been waiting to receive their salaries frozen since the fall of the previous government nearly two months ago.

"We may eventually have to beg in the market," sighs the young manager, who wears a black embroidered scarf.

"We don't have any money," her colleague said.

My husband lost his job, and I have to feed our two children,” she said, noting that she was “depressed” like many other women.

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