Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD/KABUL: It is six weeks since the Taliban closed the door on women’s and girls’ education across Afghanistan, and Zeina’s last vestiges of hope for her future died.
A different life now lies ahead for the 20-year-old, a life of domestic drudgery, boredom, and seclusion that she cannot change.
Girls Forced 0ut of Education
Since the Taliban took power in August 2021, Zeina has convinced her afraid family to let her stay at the school. She held on to the belief that she could somehow find a way to finish her education and achieve her dream of getting a master’s in medicine. This dream has now ended.
She said, “When the girls’ educations were closed by the Taliban, my father told me that he could not bear the poverty anymore,” and “He had to marry me off to someone. This would not have happened if the girls’ schools were not closed. I wanted to finish my studies and make something of my life for myself and my family, but all these dreams have shattered.”
Zeina’s entire life has been defined by violence and war. Born in Badghis province three years ago, her family was displaced to Herat to escape increasing violence and fighting between the Taliban and the forces of the former Afghan government.
Life as a refugee has been difficult for Zeina’s family. She had faced pressure from her father to marry because of debt and poverty. Now, just weeks after closing all secondary schools and universities for girls, Zeina’s marriage has already been arranged.
Her father spent most of her 200,000 afghanis dowry, using 150,000 to pay off his debts.
Now, Zeina is preparing for her wedding day and struggling with anxiety and depression. But unfortunately, there is no way out for her.
She said that “I’m stuck in a vortex of fate” and “There is no escape.”
Since the education restrictions, reports of schoolgirls and university students across Afghanistan being forced into marriage have risen.
In December 2021, a decree by the Taliban’s government supreme leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, outlawed forced marriage and required women’s consent to matrimony.
Yet a prosecutor for the ex-Afghan government, who did not want to be named for security reasons, said this is not being enforced, and the number of forced marriages has increased markedly since the Taliban government hit girls’ right to education.
She said, “We are witnessing forced marriages in the provinces and Kabul. The very dire economic situation across Afghanistan causes girls to get married off by their families,” and “During the ex-government when girls were attending schools and universities, the rate of forced marriages had decreased. Now they are rising again.”
