Indescribable challenges, oppression and loss are part of life under Taliban rule, according to speakers who shared personal accounts in the webinar “Human Rights Violations in Afghanistan,” sponsored by the Senior Lawyers Division.
February 20, 2023 Senior Lawyers Division
Webinar puts spotlight on Afghan struggles
Afghan emigree Simina Quorishi, founder of Toadstool Clinic, a network of international and local Afghan medical experts who provide medical care for Afghan refugees and residents, talked about the barriers to medical care that girls and women face in her homeland.
Females can only be treated by female doctors, who are not allowed to practice in Afghanistan, Quorishi said. She spoke about a 2020 bombing of a girls’ school, which killed 56 students and wounded many who have yet to receive medical treatment. “A lot of women have been systematically killed and no one knows about it,” she said.
Sayeed Khaledi shared the struggle of trying to obtain medical care for his critically ill mother, who escaped Afghanistan with his younger sister and is now in Pakistan. Khaledi’s father had worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before he was assassinated by the Taliban in 2021.
In the midst of all the hardships, there are organizations on the ground to offer support. Jill Kornetsky, founder of Homestead Afghanistan, a nonprofit focused on self-reliance, food security and women’s empowerment in rural Afghanistan, has managed to work with the government to assist Afghanis. She said the Taliban is “struggling” and focused on keeping their power. They rely on private businesses that pay taxes that help keep things going. “It’s a distasteful situation,” Kornetsky said, adding that nongovernment organizations like hers must “code switch” and ask the Taliban’s permission before they make a move.
The number one problem in Afghanistan now is hunger, Kornetsky said. “Most of the foreign jobs have dried up. We need to start growing food,” she said. “People are hungry. And relying on bags of rice and bottles of oil for the next five years is not a sustainable solution.” She said organizations “need to address things holistically.”